‘Tara Basa!’ is a tutoring program that employs around 5,000 Cebu City schoolchildren.

Cesafinews | ‘Tara Basa!’ is a tutoring program that employs around 5,000 Cebu City schoolchildren | CEBU CITY – An official from the regional social welfare department announced Thursday that college students have been selected to work with approximately 5,000 elementary school pupils in this nation’s capital who are having difficulty reading or who do not yet have a strong foundation in reading.

According to Shalaine Marie Lucero, the regional director of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Central Visayas, 584 undergraduates from Cebu Normal University (CNU), a prestigious Visayas institution of higher education, will provide support to 4,865 kids from 67 public primary schools in this area.

Lucero said that 487 CNU undergraduates have been selected to participate in the Tara, BASA! Tutoring Program run by the national government. Currently, 97 of these students are doing “Nanay-Tatay” sessions for the parents of the pupils.

Through the cash-for-work approach, tutors and YDWs receive educational funding in return for their services in leading reading and learning sessions.

Elementary students who are having difficulty reading will have access to these tutors for 20 consecutive days of after-school reading sessions, while YDWs will meet with parents or guardians to discuss child safety and how to be their children’s first educators at home, or Nanay-Tatay.

Department of Education (DepEd) comprehensive rapid literacy assessment (CRLA) administered in June of last year pre-identified 4,865 students from 67 public elementary schools.

College students from low-income households will be trained and placed as youth development workers (YDWs) and tutors in this program, which is a comprehensive model for social welfare and development.

DSWD, DepEd, state colleges and universities, and local government units collaborated to identify students who are failing or do not read. This effort was made possible due to the difficulties in implementing non-physical learning methods during the 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.

Following its successful introduction and initial testing in the National Capital Region in August 2023, the program was expanded to seven additional places across the country. Last week, on Friday, the program began in Cebu City for 20 days of tutoring. (via PNA)