The Philippines is one of the poorest countries in Asia. Because of poverty many children and young people suffer from child labour, child prostitution and human trafficking. Although elementary and high school education is free, still many are not in school because of the lack of other essential needs. Many are forced to do manual labour to help their families. Unable to focus on their studies, most end up being drop-outs and repeaters. The high dropout rate in schools is alarming. “Out of 100 Grade One pupils, only 66 finish Grade Six. Only 58 of the 66 go on to enroll in first-year high school and only 43 finish high school. Of the 43 who finished high school, only 23 enroll in college and only 14 of the 23 graduate from college.” To help combat this problem, an Alternative Learning System (ALS) was developed by the Department of Education to educate individuals and offer them the chance to take an Accreditation and Equivalency Exam that can accelerate them with a qualification recognized as an Elementary or High School Diploma.
In 2010, Asia Graduate School of Theology (AGST) started an ALS project in collaboration with Asia Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary (APNTS), host school of the AGST Ph.D. in Holistic Child Development (HCD) program, and the International Christian Fellowship (ICF), the church that meets in APNTS chapel. A generous grant from the Overseas Council Compassionate Care Project enabled some of our HCD students to attend the training provided by the Department of Education and become qualified ALS Instructional Managers. We were also able to purchase the ALS curriculum and other needed materials and equipments.
ALS Students consist of out of school youths and mothers. They come from a Christian rehabilitation house for drug addicts, a safe house for survivors of human trafficking, and from an impoverished community across the seminary. Students have to attend classes for 10 months or 800 hours. In addition, training in livelihood projects is also provided. Some attended the computer training in the Stop Trafficking and Exploitation of Persons through Unlimited Potential (Step-Up) program in APNTS in partnership with Microsoft Philippines. Discipleship is also integrated into the ALS program. A number of the mothers who are attending are now active in the local church on campus.
Out of the 25 ALS students, 7 have already passed the Acceleration and Equivalency Test for secondary level. One of them is Violeta Delos Santos, a mother working as a sewer. The last grade she completed was Grade 2. Another is John Anthony Cruz who only completed Grade 5 but is able to proceed to college taking up Engineering in Technical Institute of the Philippines. He is also one of the trainers in the Step-Up program at APNTS.
“The ALS project provides us an opportunity to influence children and young people in the formation of their future… AGST/ APNTS and ICF could take part in the effort of the Philippine government to prevent human trafficking and give children and youth the opportunity to have a better future.”
