The “Tara, Basa!” (Let’s Read!) tutoring program got going in Samar province on Friday, in line with the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) efforts to upscale the reformatted educational assistance program for struggling and non-reading elementary students, and their parents, tutors, and youth development workers (YDWs).

DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said illiteracy must end.

“Dapat walang kabataang Pilipino ang hindi marunong magbasa (No Filipino youth should remain unable to read),” Gatchalian said during the program launch at Tandaya Hall in Catbalogan City.

“We also want to make sure na natutulungan natin ‘yung mga college students natin na kulang lang sa financial para makatapos (that we assist our college students who are just lacking in finances to finish], pero [but) at the same time, sila na rin yung i-enlist namin na maging tutor ng mga bata (they will also be enlisted to become tutors for the children],” he said.

Under the program, college students enrolled in select state universities in Samar will be engaged as tutors and YDWs.

In exchange for their services in holding learning, reading, and nanay-tatay (mother-father) teacher sessions, tutors and YDWs will be provided with educational support through the cash-for-work mechanism.

“We want to make sure na ‘yun nga, para sustainable siya [to make it more sustainable], we want to train our parents to become the first teachers at home. Parents keep forgetting that the first teachers are not the teachers in the classroom, but rather, the first teachers are the teachers in the house, in the home,” Gatchalian said.

With the Tara, Basa! program, the parents and guardians of the children-beneficiaries are also provided with cash-for-work by the DSWD for attending the sessions and assisting their children in preparing their needs for learning and reading and in their after-reading assignments.

For its rollout in Samar province, 2,000 struggling and non-reading elementary students and their parents, 200 tutors, and 40 YDWs will benefit from the program.

The rollout of the program in Samar was formalized through the signing of a memorandum of agreement among Gatchalian, provincial government officials led by Governor Sharee Ann Tan, and officials of the Samar State University and Northern Samar State University. (PNA)