As the new academic year is fast approaching, the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) remains right on track in its primary objective of sending children to school.

Considering the persistent challenge of declining enrollment and cases of school drop-out among 4Ps beneficiaries in the region, DSWD MIMAROPA, through its 4Ps Regional Program Management Office down to the Municipal Operations Offices, are taking proactive steps to ensure that children who are not enrolled this academic year will be registered to attend classes next school year—and even those who have initially enrolled will not drop out from school.

As an initiative, the Department has developed the Manual on Sustaining the Interest of Children and Youth in School which is being used as reference during the conduct of Family Development Sessions (FDS). Topics included are Challenges and Needs of Children and Youth Not Attending school and their families, Rights and Responsibilities of Child and Responsibilities of Parents, and Dealing with Family and Parental Conflicts which discusses the underlying factors contributing to school dropout among children and youth today.

In addition, 4Ps staff diligently holds Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with those who were tagged as NAS (a program category where a monitored child has been out of school for four months or more) along with their parents in every municipality in the region as a strategy to reduce the number of such cases in MIMAROPA. It also aims to encourage the interest of young people in continuing and completing their basic education in a mood that fits their distinct situation — and eventually, an avenue to motivate and empower them to actively engage in advocating for the return of their peers to the educational fold.

With one goal in mind, the Department also collaborates with the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) and Alternative Learning System (ALS) of the Department of Education to conduct an information campaign and orientation encouraging Out of School Youth (OSY) and NAS children beneficiaries to be up to this deed.

Through several workshop formats, the selected parents and children went through a stage where they processed and mentioned the issues that caused the children to drop out of school and eventually identified possible solutions to address their issues/concerns.

Through this, the responsibility of parents and children is given importance in jointly solving the problems that lead to dropping out of school. It is, indeed, a duty of a good program beneficiary to dream of getting out of the cycle of poverty that can provide a better future for the children and the next generation.

With the active participation of the 4Ps parents and youth during sessions, the strengths, weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats they face in their daily lives, were identified and discussed.

On the contrary, the kabataang 4Ps responded positively and promised to return to school. Parents, on the other hand, expressed their commitment to always encourage their children to continue studying and support them when they return to school.

The Department aims to have zero number of beneficiaries belonging to the “NAS” category so that each household can make the most of the assistance provided by the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.

 

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