Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL nod Se

Introduced by Representative Florida P. Robes

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Education is the passport to the future, for
tomorrow belong to those who prepare for it today.

-Malcolm X

Not all those who would want to be educated have the means to pursue and succeed in
achieving the same because of factors outside of their control. Many Filipinos, children or
adults alike, knows the importance of education not only for themselves but also of their own
family. What hinders most of our countrymen to avail of quality education is not their refusal
to painstakingly attend everyday classes and pass their exams but the poverty and non-
availability of alternative programs which is accredited by the government and may be used to
enhance their eligibility.

With the recent trend and alternative programs being implemented by the government
and non-governmental organizations to make education accessible to all specially the out-of-
school children, youth and adults, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and other
marginalized sectors of society, this bill would make this alternative learning systems more
stable and accessible to every Filipinos in every corner of the country.

‘The passing of this bill and making the same to be a law is s step forward of educating
the Filipinos in every barangay, including residents of unreached, underserved and conflict-
affected communities, municipality, and city.

‘Thus, in view of the foregoing, the passage of this measure is being eamestly sought.

FLORIPA P. ROBES


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City
EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

4392
HOUSE BILL NO.

Introduced by Representative Florida P. Robes

AN ACT
INSTITUTIONALIZING THE ALTERNATIVE LEARNING SYSTEM IN THE BASIC
EDUCATION FOR OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN, YOUTH AND ADULTS,
PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, AND OTHER
MARGINALIZED SECTORS OF SOCIETY, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS
THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the “Alternative Learning
System Act”.

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. —Itis hereby declared the policy of the State to promote
the right ofall citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make
such education accessible to all. The State shall likewise give the highest priority to the
enactment of measures that promote human development and the acceleration of social
progress, thereby reducing social, economic and political inequalities.

Towards this end, the State shall provide the out-of-school children, youth and adults,
persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and other marginalized sectors of society with
opportunities to improve their knowledge, technical and vocational efficiency, and other skills
through a system of informal, non-formal, and indigenous education which are tailored to meet
their limited schedule and their incapacity to attend to formal classroom learning experience
due to time, physical, emotional, economic, and other constraints.

SEC. 3. Objectives. — This Act aims to achieve the following objectives:
a. provide adequate attention to the leaming needs of the out-of-school
children, youth and adults, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and other

marginalized sectors of society;

b. guarantee equal opportunity for learners in every barangay, including
residents of unreached, underserved and conflict-affected communities, to avail of


systematic and flexible alternative basic education program outside of the formal school
system;

c. promote lifelong learning in all streams of education to ensure the
learners’ sustainable future; and

d. institute a mobile teacher program especially in far-flung, unserved,
underserved, and conflict-affected communities.

SEC. 4. The Alternative Learning System. — The Alternative Learning System,
hereinafter referred to as “ALS”, is hereby established as a parallel learning system that
provides an alternative learning arrangement to learners, who, for acceptable reasons to be
determined by the Department of Education (DepEd), cannot be admitted to the exi: formal
basic education. It includes both the non-formal and informal sources of knowledge and skills.

The ALS shall cover out-of-school children, youth and adults, persons with disabilities,
indigenous peoples, and other marginalized sectors of society, who either have none or limited
access to formal schools, and who are usually located in far-flung communities, including those
in areas with armed conflict.

SEC. 5. Implementation. — The Secretary of Education, through the appropriate DepEd
office, shall exercise general supervision and administration over the ALS programs. It shall:

4. establish an appropriate governance mechanism to ensure the efficient
and effective coordination and management of the ALS covering policy, curriculum,
learning program delivery, learning materials, learner assessment and certification,
quality assurance and support systems;

b. provide the appropriate ALS curriculum assimilating culture and
gender-sensitive formulations that meet the minimum requirements of basic education,
training of teachers and coordinators, and the mechanism to implement the program in
every city and municipality throughout the country;

©. coordinate with local government units (LGUs), non-government
organizations (NGOs), and other government agencies on matters pertaining to
community mapping activities and come up with a centralized database for out-of-
school children, youth and adults, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and
other marginalized sectors of society who have not yet completed their basic education;

d. address the learning needs of the marginalized groups of the population
including the deprived, depressed, unserved, and underserved citizens through non-
formal and informal education programs;

ensure access to educational opportunities for learners of different
interests, capabilities, demographic characteristics and socio-economic origins and
status;

f promote certification and accreditation through alternative learning
programs, both non-formal and informal in nature, for basic education;


coordinate with various agencies for skills development to ensure the
learners’ employability, efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness in the labor
market; and

h. establish minimum quality standards for ALS program implementation
and management including certification of learning outcomes, accreditation of service
providers, competency standards for ALS personnel, and requirements for ALS
learning environments, among others, to help promote quality assurance of the ALS.

SEC. 6. The ALS Programs. —The DepEd shall strengthen the implementation of Non-
Formal Education (NFE) and Informal Education (InfEd) Programs.

The NFE program shall be modular and flexible in nature, which means learning can
take place anytime and in any place depending on the convenience and availability of the ALS
learners. This program is subdivided into a:

a. Basic Literacy Program (BLP), for illiterates; and

b. Continuing Education Program, called Accreditation and Equivalency (CE: A&E)
Program, for elementary education dropouts.

‘The InfEd program includes skills and livelihood training, entrepreneurship, personal
interest, and community development sessions.

To deliver the ALS programs, the DepEd may utilize the following learning resources:

a. learning modules which contain learning activities, and pre- and post-assessments;
and

b. supplementary materials like text and non-text based modules, self-learning
instructional materials, learning activity packages, online or digital modules, textbooks, e-
modules, or blended technology learning materials from various sources.

SEC. 7. Duration of ALS Programs. ~ The DepEd shall prescribe an appropriate
minimum number of session hours or days required for the completion of ALS programs to
ensure that the learners enrolled therein are provided with adequate and quality schooling and
training at par with the formal educational system.

SEC. 8. Accreditation and Equivalency Examinations for ALS Learners. ~The ALS
Accreditation and Equivalency (ALS A&E) Test shall be a paper and pencil test designed and
administered by the DepEd to measure the competencies of those who have neither attended
nor finished elementary or secondary education in the formal school system.

Passers of the ALS A&E Test are given a certificate or diploma bearing the DepEd seal,
and the signature of the Secretary of Education, certifying their competencies as comparable
graduates of the formal school system. Passers are qualified to enroll in junior high schoo! or
senior high school education, as appropriate.

SEC. 9. Admission to Senior High School. — Learners, who successfully complete the
required ALS program and pass the appropriate ALS A&E Test for junior high school level


may be admitted to senior high schoo! to pursue courses of their own choice: Provided, that
they comply with the other basic documentary requirements set by the school as requisite for
enrollment.

‘The DepEd shall develop supplemental learning programs for passers of the ALS A&E
Test to help the learners cope with and be acquainted with the kind of academic, technical, or
vocational subjects being offered in senior high school education.

SEC. 10. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). ~
‘The TESDA, in coordination with DepEd, shall assist ALS A&E Test passers equivalent to
Grade 10 in taking up technical vocational education and training (TVET) programs. This shall
serve as an option to enrolling in senior high school.

The DepEd shall also encourage ALS graduates in possession of skills to undergo
competency assessment and certification being administered by TESDA.

SEC. 11. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). ~ The DOLE, in
partnership with DepEd, shall promote gainful employment opportunities to ALS passers, who
will eventually graduate from senior high school education, through coordination with
prospective employers for job placement in the industry sector.

SEC. 12. Hiring and Training of ALS Learning Facilitators. - The DepEd shall hire
ALS Mobile Teachers, Literacy Volunteers, and Instructional Managers, who shall serve as
ALS Learning Facilitators, in order to augment the manpower resources needed in
implementation of the ALS programs throughout the country.

The ALS Leaming Facilitators shall undergo the necessary training regularly
throughout the calendar year to upgrade their teaching skills to the standards expected for the
ALS curriculum.

SEC. 13. Establishment of ALS Community Learning Centers. ~ There shall be
established at least one (1) ALS Community Learning Center (CLC) in every municipality and
city throughout the country. As much as possible, the ALS CLC shall be situated at the place
within the municipality or city that is conducive for learning and accessible to the public.

Each ALS CLC shall be constructed in accordance with the specifications, criteria, and
other details provided and approved by the DepEd, in consultation with the municipal or city
mayor or a duly authorized LGU representative, to ensure the orderly implementation of the
project.

SEC. 14. The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG). - The DILG
shall help enlist the support of LGUs as DepEd partners in the operation of the ALS. It shall
coordinate with DepEd on matters requiring LGU participation and shall issue and disseminate
to the LGUs concerned ALS-related memoranda or advisories, as necessary.

SEC. 15. Participation of LGUs. — The Secretary of Education shall initiate
partnerships with the Chief Executives of LGUs to encourage them to contribute available
resources to the ALS programs within the LGUs’ respective areas of jurisdiction.



SEC. 16. Local ALS Committee. — The Local School Board may create a local ALS
committee and provide for its composition, as necessary. The local ALS committee shall
perform the following functions:

a. oversee the ALS implementation at the city or municipal level, including the
identification of priority ALS programs, establishment of ALS CLC, provision of technical
assistance to ALS Leaming Facilitators, program monitoring and evaluation, and
coordination with government and non-government partners for post-program support
activities;

b. recommend to the local school board, in accordance with the criteria set by the
DepEd, the determination of the annual supplementary budgetary needs for the operation
and maintenance of ALS within the city or municipality, and the supplementary local cost
of meeting such as needs, which shall be reflected in the form of an annual ALS budget
corresponding to its share of the proceeds of the special levy on real property constituting
the Special Education Fund and such other sources of revenue as this Act and other laws
or ordinances may provide;

. ensure the implementation of community literacy mapping activities within the
ality and coordinate with the barangays, non-government organizations and

the identification of out-of-school children, youth and adults, persons with
disabilities, indigenous peoples, and other marginalized sectors of society who have not yet
completed their basic education;

d. coordinate with the DepEd in regard to the establishment, operation and
maintenance of ALS CLC; and

e. serve as an advisory committee to the Sangguniang Panglungsod or
Sangguniang Bayan concerned on the ALS implementation in the city or municipality.

SEC. 17. Special Education Fund Allocation. — Notwithstanding the provision of
Section 272 of Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the “Local Government Code of
1991”, the local school boards shall set aside a portion of the proceeds of the Special Education
Fund for the utilization of ALS programs within the LGUs’ respective areas of jurisdiction.

SEC. 18. Private Sector Participation. ~ The Secretary of Education shall encourage
and promote close partnerships with the private sector whose support in the form of cooperative
or collaborative arrangements may be harnessed to ensure the sustainable implementation of
ALS programs.

SEC. 19. Unlawful Fees. —It shall be unlawful for any DepEd-administered ALS CLC,
its officers, or Learning Facilitators to solicit or require the payment of admission, enrollment
and other kinds of fees from any interested learner as requisite for admission.

SEC. 20. Appropriations. — The amount necessary for the implementation of this Act
shall be charged against the current year’s appropriations for Flexible Learning Options of the
Department of Education. Thereafter, such amount as may be necessary for the continuous
implementation of this Act shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.


SEC. 21. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — Within ninety (90) days from the
approval of this Act, the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the DILG, TESDA,
DOLE, Coordinating Council for Private Educational Associations, NGO, and other concerned
government agencies, shall formulate the rules and regulations implementing the provisions of
this Act. The implementing rules and regulations issued pursuant to this section shall take
effect thirty (30) days after its publication in a national newspaper of general circulation.

SEC. 22. Separability Clause. — \f any provision of this Act is held invalid or
unconstitutional, the other provisions not so declared shall remain in force and effect.

SEC. 23. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees, orders and rules and regulations
contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or amended
accordingly.

SEC. 24. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication
in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,