The Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees that education is a universal right. The World Conferences for Education for All ensure this right. The 1987 Philippine Constitution devotes its full Article XIV to the protection and promotion of the welfare of the Filipino youth.

Philippine Education for All (EFA) envisions that all Filipinos are functionally literate by 2015. A high dropout rate and poor academic performances threaten the achievement of this vision. To reduce the threat, the Dropout Reduction Program (Dorp) was developed by the Bureau of Secondary Education (BSE) of the DepEd Central Office. The following are the strategic components of Dorp:

Schools Initiated Intervention (SII). It is an alternative dropout reduction mechanism that encourages “novel and homegrown” ideas practiced by the schools and is found to be effective in abating dropout incidence. It seeks to provide alternative learning opportunities to “student-at-risk-of-dropping-out” (Sardos) to prevent them from ultimately leaving the school due to circumstances beyond their control. There are four major recognized risk factors for dropping, conveniently called Fics: 1) Family-related problems 2) Individual-related problems 3) Community-related problems and 4) School related problems.

Open High School Program (OHSP). It is an alternative mode of secondary education that uses distance learning. It caters to learners who are unable to attend regular class program due to physical impairment, work, financial difficulties, distance of home to school and other justifiable reasons. Since distance learning is its main feature, the program requires that the learners are capable of managing their own learning.

Easy Access to Secondary Education (Ease). It is an alternative mode for secondary students who cannot report to classes for a number of reasons: the need to work, illness in the family, distance from school, calamitous events, peace and order problem, absence of regular public transportation and others. Ease is semi-contractual. The student enters into an agreement with the teachers that while he/she is on school leave, he/she shall find time to study a set of learning modules and shall be allowed to enter his/her regular classes after the re-entry assessment. It is distance learning, modularized learning, student-directed and teacher-facilitated and supplements but does not replace the formal learning system. Most importantly, the student is a regular student who temporarily can’t attend classes.

With the full guarantee of the laws, we can conclude that every youth is a treasured possession and non-negotiable investment in the future of the nation and the world at large, thus, employing all efforts to “catch and hold” them in schools. For more information regarding these dropout reduction interventions, you can contact Dr. Luzminda O. Onor, Chief of the Secondary Education Division (SED) or Dr. Chanette D. Cadiente, Regional DORP Coordinator at telephone number (082) 227-9342 and the respective Division DORP Coordinators of DepEd Region XI.

By: Lorenzo E. Mendoza, M.A. Sunstar Davao