Call for Volunteers: DSWD-DepEd Tara, Basa! Program

The Tara, Basa! Program is a social welfare and development intervention initiated by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to enhance the reading ability of students in our public schools. Based on reading assessments conducted this school year 2022-2023, there are close to 160,000 elementary school students in the National Capital Region who are unable to read according to expected levels. The Tara, Basa! Program seeks to help address this pressing concern.

The program will be implemented in close coordination with the Department of Education (DepEd). The pilot run of the program this July - August 2023 will involve 68,000 Grade 1 learners who need assistance in reading and they will be handled by 6,000 tutors from local or state colleges and universities who will benefit from cash assistance from the government. The parents of the learners will be provided cash for work assistance with their work defined as bringing their children to school to attend the reading sessions. While accompanying their children, the parents will participate in a parenting program. 

In this 20-day program, there will be two types of engagement for the college students who come from local or state colleges and universities:

1. as Learning Facilitators who will handle the reading tutorial program
2. as Youth Development Workers who will handle the parenting sessions for the parents or guardians

ADMU through ACED has been requested to train the college students who will serve as Learning Facilitators or Youth Development Workers. We will be needing at least 50 Lead Trainers and 150 Breakout Session Facilitators. We are thus calling for volunteers who can serve as Lead Trainers (preferably teachers) and Breakout Session Facilitators (Senior High School or Loyola Schools students). All student volunteers will be required to submit a letter of permission from their parents.

This invitation is also open to interested ADMU personnel.

We hope you will consider volunteering in this important endeavor as either Lead Facilitators or Breakout Session Facilitators. Each half day training session will be handled by a team consisting of a Lead Facilitator and Breakout Session Facilitators. Training will be conducted in the different cities in NCR. Important dates are as follows:

• 24 June 2023 (Saturday) : 8:30 am - 2:30 pm - All volunteers must attend this Train the Trainers Session which will be held in ADMU.
• 10 July 2023 (Monday) - 18 July 2023 (Tuesday) : 8:00 am - 12:00 nn OR 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm - Volunteers will be asked to sign up for their preferred slots.  

The July 10-18 workshops will be held daily, Monday to Friday. The half-day AM and PM sessions will follow the same training template/design. These will be dispersed in NCR cities (scheduled cities per day, to follow). 

Registration link can be found here: https://bit.ly/DSWDTaraBasaRegistration

Questions regarding this opportunity may be directed to Mr. Nelson Janoras of ACED (njanoras@ateneo.edu).

Thank you and we fervently hope for your participation in this important endeavor.