By Alfonso T. Ruda
DIPOLOG CITY - The Dipolog
City schools division’s Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS) has
recently conducted an advocacy and social mobilization on the Abot Alam program
at the Bamboo Garden Restaurant here recently.
Joining
the activity were representatives from the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI), Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA) and the barangay officials
in the city.
ALS
supervisor Catalina Barinaga said the Abot Alam program is a national
convergence program of various national and local government agencies,
non-government organizations (NGOs) and other institutions with the vision of
helping the out-of-school youth (OSY) through the opportunities for education,
entrepreneurship and employment.
It
is also a national strategy to organize efforts in integrating programs for
out-of-school youth (OSY) who are 15 to 30 years old and have not completed the
basic/higher education or who are unemployed.
The
objective of the program is to create a database of OSYs throughout the country
by organizing the barangay targeting system; unify the efforts and resources of
all agencies and organizations directed to solving the OSY problems, and ensure
that all OSYs have access to programs and projects of the different
organization.
One
of the components of the program is data gathering in which all barangays will
be surveyed to determine the interventions to be undertaken by the concerned
agencies.
These
interventions include the livelihood and skills training of the Technical
Skills Development Authority (TESDA); scholarship program through the
Commission on Higher Education (CHED); employment program of the Dept. of Labor
and OSY programs of the Local Government Units(LGUs); employment program of the
Dept. of Labor and Employment (DOLE); Department of Agrarian Reform’s (DAR)
skills training for Agrarian Reform Communities (ARCs); Community e-centers and
product development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the
literacy program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development DSWD) in
the 4Ps communities.