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MANILA, Philippines ? The country will soon have its own version of the US Peace Corps after the Department of Education (DepEd) announced Friday it was recruiting young volunteers to help efforts to improve literacy nationwide.
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus in a statement said the DepEd was looking for 360 ?bright and committed? literacy volunteers (LV) who will assist in carrying out alternative learning systems (ALS) in areas with low literacy rates.
?As the DepEd is going full force in making education accessible to all in line with the target of Education For All in 2015, this project is most relevant,? Lapus said.
?These men and women will be answering a call that is both challenging and rewarding. They will be sent to far-flung areas where they will have a direct hand in improving lives and communities right before their eyes,? he said.
The LVs will cater not only to adults who cannot read and write but to out-of-school youth.
They will offer a Basic Literacy Program, which aims to make recipients functionally literate, and an Accreditation and Equivalency Program to help prepare participants take the A&E or high school equivalency exam.
Earlier, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 788 entitled ?Promoting a Youth National Service? to promote community service among the youth.
The DepEd is implementing the project with help from the National Youth Commission and Association of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Lapus said.
Besides education, the volunteers will help build parks, plant trees and assist livelihood projects.
They will coordinate with community leaders in identifying potential learners and organize learning groups for the ALS programs. The volunteers will also network with other government organizations and NGOs ?for potential support or partnership.?
Lapus said the volunteers, whose contracts will run from September 2009 to August 2010, should be between 18 and 24 years old, preferably have a bachelor?s degree in elementary or secondary education, ?or at the very least? be high school graduates.
?We will not field LVs by themselves but we?ll put them in teams of two to five depending on the needs of an area,? said Jonathan Malaya, DepEd assistant secretary for special projects.
Malaya said recruitment will go on until Aug. 31 with those chosen being deployed beginning Sept. 7.
Volunteers will receive a stipend of P5,000 and P2,000 for transportation each month for 10 months.
?This is an opportunity for our youth to make a difference and to put into action a real sense of nationalism,? Malaya said.
Interested parties may contact the DepEd Office of the Assistant Secretary for Special Projects at 6331940, 6337224 or 6319641; Bureau of Alternative Learning System at 6355191 or 6363227; or the National Youth Commission at 7811163.
