BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio Domogan urged some 849 Alternative Learning System (ALS) graduates who will take the Accreditation and Equivalency Test to give the examination their best shot for their own future.
In the orientation for the examinees, 50 in the elementary and 799 in high school, held last Feb. 20, the mayor said the A&E test is an opportunity for the ALS learners who did not attend formal elementary or secondary schools to complete their basic education and thereafter chart their own lives.
The mayor was joined by Education Program Supervisor Fernando Eleponga, Chief Education Supervisor School Governance and Operations Division and ALS Baguio Educational Supervisor Arthur Tiongan, mobile teachers and ALS passers in giving inspiration to the learners who will take the test on Feb. 24.
As per the 2015-2017 A&E passers statistics, the city had posted high passing rates in the elementary component with 93.33 percent passing mark in 2015, 95.83 percent in 2016 and 97.22 percent in 2017 as against the national passing rates of 38.65 percent, 42.56 percent and 57.21 percent for the same respective period.
In the junior high school level, the city chalked up 81.84 percent in 2015, 84.23 percent in 2016 and 82.75 percent in 2017 as against the national passing rates of 57.48 percent, 57.32 percent and 69.49 percent for the same period.
Eleponga and Tiongan expressed hopes that the city will sustain if not exceed the previous passing rates.
The Department of Education policy guidelines said the A&E tests are nationally administered examinations that aim “to measure the competencies and life skills of the (learners and) these assessments will allow the learners to obtain certification of completion at different exits in Basic Education which may be used to access further education, job promotion, entry to job training and employment.”
DepEd Order No. 27 series of 2018 provided that beginning school year 2018-2019, passers of A&E tests in the high school level, who are all high school graduates of the old basic education curriculum for ALS are eligible to enroll in college or university as first year students subject to admission policies and requirements of higher education institutions.
They can also take skills development training program offered by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and other accredited government and private skills training institutions.
“Said passers may nonetheless opt to take SHS (Senior High School) Education and enroll in public SHS (or) recognized private schools offering SHS subject to their admission requirements and choose a specific track in Grade 11 based on their field of interest,” the order provides. ** Aileen P. Refuerzo
