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2019
Promoting the BRAC Alternative Delivery Model for Out-of-school Promoting the BRAC Alternative Delivery Model for Out-of-school Children in ARMM
Children in ARMM
Karen S. Janita
College of Public Affairs and Development, University of the Philippines Los Baños
Follow this and additional works at: https://www.ukdr.uplb.edu.ph/cspps_policy_brief
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Recommended Citation Recommended Citation
Janita, Karen S., "Promoting the BRAC Alternative Delivery Model for Out-of-school Children in ARMM"
(2019). CSPPS Policy Brief. 5.
https://www.ukdr.uplb.edu.ph/cspps_policy_brief/5
University of the Philippines Los Baños College of Public Affairs and Development Center for Strategic Planning and Policy Studies
ISSN 2704 - 2928
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has the highest number of out-of-school children in the Philippines. The Philippine government implemented several interventions which mainly focused on the high cost of education, rather than on improving access to quality education. It was in 2012 when BRAC (formerly Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) Philippines implemented a project that provided alternative delivery modes of educational services to those with difficult access. However, the project ended last 2017 and there are areas that remained unserved, thus the need for the government to continue adopting the BRAC ADM system.
Promoting the BRAC Alternative Delivery Model for Out-of-school Children in ARMM
Issue No. 1 | 2019 | Social Policy and Institutions
CENTER FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING AND POLICY STUDIES POLICY BRIEF
Out-of-school children and youth – a national concern The early years are one of the most important
growth periods in a child’s life since it can influence their physical and neurological development (Davis, 2008), hence the importance of early childhood and basic education. The 1987 Philippine constitution upholds the right of every Filipino to basic education.
The Philippine government committed to achieve
the Education For All goals of improving access and quality of basic education for every Filipino by 2015 and the Millennium Development Goals of achieving universal primary education (DepEd, 2012).
Unfortunately, these goals were not met by the end of 2015. One out of ten or an estimate of 39 million Filipinos aged 6 to 24 were out-of-school children and youth (OSCY) and 5% of them were aged 6 to 11 years old (APIS, 2016).
Written by Karen S. Janiya, University Researcher I
“ Previous government interventions focused more on the high cost of education and insufficiency of family income, and not on the accessibility of education services. ”
Urgent need in ARMM
Among the regions in the Philippines, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) had the highest proportion (10.9%) of out-of-school children (OOSC) 5 to 14 years old (PSA, 2013 ). This was 7.4% higher than the national average. Previous government interventions focused more on the high cost of education and insufficiency of family income, and not on the accessibility of education services. Although the number of OOSC decreased across regions, ARMM’s OOSC rate still remains high. “The highest number of OOSC can be found in ARMM because about 25%
of the barangays don’t have school or have difficulty in accessing schools” (DepEd, 2012). Most schools in ARMM are located in major population centers, thereby marginalizing school age children in remote communities. There are also 594 barangays out of 2,419 without government schools (BEAM-ARMM, 2011).
In 2012, BRAC Philippines implemented the BRAC Alternative Delivery Model (ADM) project in ARMM to improve the access to and quality of pre-school and elementary education. It aimed to provide “catch- up” learning opportunities for remote and poor communities without government schools or access to such. The use of alternative models in delivering early childhood education had been recommended by the Philippine Country Study for OOSC (2012) since it utilizes a “flexible working philosophy and curriculum delivery program” that can be suitable for the environment in ARMM.
The Deparment of Education (DepEd) already have accredited alternative delivery modes namely: Modified In-School/Off-School Approach and Instructional Management by Parents, Community and Teachers at the elementary level, and Open High School Program.
This further shows that BRAC ADM can be adopted by DepEd.
The BRAC Approach
To improve the access to pre-school and elementary education, BRAC established schools or barangay learning centers (BLCs) in identified priority barangays with a large number of OOSC and out of reach public schools in the provinces of ARMM. As for improving
the quality of pre-school and elementary education, the project developed their teaching and learning materials and assessment mechanism consistent with the K to 12 curricula of Department of Education and were contextualized under the ARMM setting.
Services are delivered by partner non-government organizations (NGOs) based in ARMM that were trained before implementation. Recruited teachers, or learning facilitators (LF) as they called it, were also trained before the start of the implementation. Regular refresher courses were also conducted to help the LFs in the daily operations of the BLCs. This was also accompanied by regular monitoring from the NGOs.
Aside from providing free tuition, they also provide school supplies and materials.
To assess the changes brought about by BRAC ADM, researchers from UPLB conducted a study to measure the improved access and quality of education .
What was done and what remains to be done The BRAC ADM project initially benefitted 11,868 children in its first year of implementation and was able to establish 410 schools or BLCs. By the end of SY 2014-2015, which was the largest year of enrolment in the ADM program, they were able to benefit 38,192 students and established 1,220 BLCs. Based on the 2013 estimates of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), they estimated that around 108,208 children and youth aged 6-15 are not attending school (Table 1). Comparing this with the number of children and youth that was benefitted by the BRAC ADM project, there were more than 70,124 children and youth who are still not attending school or are still left unserved.
One of the objectives of BRAC ADM is to provide
“catch-up” learning opportunities for remote and poor communities without access to government schools. Table 2 shows that BRAC ADM was also able to fulfill its objective of catching those left behind by the public system. Data from the Concerned Alliance for Professional and Students Inc. (CAPSI), one of BRAC’s partner NGO, shows that more than 50% of the children enrolled in preschool were older than 5 years old, which is the ideal age for preschool students. Same pattern was observed with grade 1 and grade 2 learners, wherein more than 50% of the
children enrolled were older than the ideal age for their particular grade level (6 years old for grade 1 and 7 years old for grade 2). Numbers show that the BLCs provided learning opportunities for children who were
Level currently attending Population Age Group
6-24 6-11 12-15 16-24
ARMM (‘000) 1,511 580 356 574
Not currently attending 30.1 10.8 12.8 60.3
Attending 69.9 89.2 87.2 39.7
Kindergarten/Prep/Nursery 2.5 5.1 - -
Elementary 55.6 94.1 31.4 0.9
High School 27.1 0.6 68.1 31.6
Post-secondary - - - -
College 14.7 - 0.5 67.5
Post graduate - - - -
Source: Philippine Statistics Office (2013). 2013 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey. Retrieved from https:// psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/2013%20FLEMMS%20 Final%20Report.pdf
Table 1. Percentage of population 6 to 24 years old by level currently attending, age group, 2013.
Before the implementation of the BRAC ADM project, Basic Education Assistance for Muslim Mindanao – Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BEAM-
left behind. As shown in table 1, as children get older, the percentage of children/youth not attending school increases, therefore shows the need for “catch-up”
opportunities.
Age
Grade Level Pre-school
(n= 475) Grade 1 (n =
206) Grade 2 (n = 190)
4 2.11 0.00 0.00
5 41.26 3.88 0.00
6 30.95 35.92 1.58
7 15.37 38.35 8.95
8 7.58 11.65 26.32
9 1.89 7.77 31.05
10 0.63 1.94 22.63
11 0.00 0.49 5.26
12 0.00 0.00 3.68
13 0.00 0.00 0.53
15 0.21 0.00 0.00
Average Age 6.43 7.42 9.47
Source: University of the Philippines Los Baños – Foundation Inc., (2015) BRAC Alternative Delivery Model (ADM) Project: The Baseline and Midline Study (unpublished)
Table 2. Distribution of learners by single age group by level,
CAPSI, 2014-15. ARMM) projected the number of teachers and
classroom needed for 2011 to 2020 using the 2007 NSO population. Based on their estimates, by 2017, ARMM will be needing 6,582 teachers and classrooms.
By the end of the implementation of the BRAC ADM project, they were able to establish 1,724 BLCs, which means that there were at least 4,858 teachers and classrooms that were still needed in 2017. By design, BLCs adapt a one-cohort system of basic education wherein their LF from grade 1 will stay with the same students until grade 5. Estimates from the BEAM-ARMM also stated that in 2011, there are 594 barangays without school in ARMM. Through the BRAC ADM project, they were able to cover around 213 barangays in their first year of implementation.
In 2017, implementation of BRAC ADM project no longer admit kindergarten students. BRAC, together with DepEd-ARMM, prepared for the transition of BRAC learners to the DepEd system for SY 2017-2018. It was agreed that after the implementation of the project, learners will be transferred to catchment schools or schools that were nearest to the BLCs. Based on BEAM-ARMM’s End of Program Review (2017), one of the issues that might arise in the transition is the decrease in attendance of learners in DepEd-ARMM schools because of the distance of the catchment schools. According to the baseline survey conducted by UPLB-FI (2013), in Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao
References:
Basic Education Assistance for Muslim Mindanao – Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (2011). Basic Education Assistance for Muslim Mindanao – Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao: Project Design and
Implementation Plan 2012-2017.
Basic Education Assistance for Muslim Mindanao – Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (2017). Basic Education Assistance for Muslim Mindanao – Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao: End of Program Review – Final.
Retrieved from: https://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/
Documents/philippines-beam-armm-end-program-review.pdf (accessed March 22, 2019)
Davis, J.M. (2008). What might education for sustainability look like in early childhood? A case for participatory, whole-of- settings approaches. In Samuelasson and Kaga (Eds), The contribution of early childhood education to a sustainable society (pp. 18). Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/
images/0015/001593/159355e.pdf
Department of Education (2012). All Children in School by 2015 Global Initiative in Out-of-School Children: Philippine Country Study. Retrieved from: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/
images/0022/002262/226221e.pdf
Philippine Statistics Office (2013). 2013 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey. Retrieved from https://
psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/2013%20FLEMMS%20 Final%20Report.pdf
Philippine Statistics Office (13 June 2017). One in Every Ten Filipinos Aged 6 to 24 Years is an Out of School Child and Youth. Retrieved from: https://psa.gov.ph/content/one-every- ten-filipinos-aged-6-24-years-out-school-child-and-youth.
Republic Act No. 5447, An Act creating a Special Education Fund to be constituted from the proceeds of an additional Real Property Tax and a certain portion of the taxes on Virginia-type cigarettes and duties on imported leaf tobacco, defining the activities to be finance, creating school
boards for the purpose, and appropriating funds therefrom [Philippines], 25, September 25, 1968. Retrieved from: https://
www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1968/ra_5447_1968.
html
University of the Philippines Los Baños – Foundation Inc., (2015) BRAC Alternative Delivery Model (ADM) Project: The Baseline and Midline Study (unpublished)
University of the Philippines Los Baños – Foundation Inc., (2013) Impact Assessment of the BRAC Alternative Delivery Model (ADM) Project: Baseline Report (unpublished)
The study entitled “Assessment of the BEAM-ARMM Alternative Delivery Model in ARMM” was conducted by University of the Philippines Los Baños – Foundation, Inc, in partnership with the College of Public Affairs and Development and the College of Human Ecology. This was funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT; formerly known as Australian Agency for International Development or AusAID).
Published by the Center for Strategic Planning and Policy Studies, College of Public Affairs and Development, University of the Philippines Los Baños
+63 (49) 536 - 3455 [email protected]
and Tawi-tawi, the average distance of the surveyed household to the nearest BLC was only 1.08 km compared with 9.72 km of public schools. The BRAC ADM project was also able to provide an easier access to learning opportunities, but this will be a waste if the BLCs will not be able to continue their operations.
The need to sustain BRAC for educational reform Results show that BRAC ADM was effective in decreasing the number of OOSC by improving the access to quality education. But, there are still many children who are left unserved. The BRAC ADM project already ended last 2017, but it still has potential to reach more OOSC if DepEd will adopt it. If DepEd will not adopt it, what BRAC had already started will be
wasted. BRAC ADM was designed so that the learners will be transferred to DepEd once the project ends.
But, this defeats the purpose of establishing schools that are more accessible. Another way that the BLCs can be sustained is through the use of the Local Government Units’ Special Education Fund (SEF). SEF was created to support operation and maintenance of public schools within the province, city or municipality (Republic Act No. 5447).
The government did decrease the number of OOSC across regions, but a different policy is needed to decrease its proportion in ARMM. BRAC ADM provided a venue for more learning opportunities and has proven to be effective. Policy makers should consider sustaining this model for the education sector.
