Twenty-four students of Mapúa University’s Alternative Learning Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ALEAP) successfully completed the Junior High School level. The commencement exercise was held last September 2, live via the Department of Education (DepEd) Manila’s Facebook page.
ALEAP is the learning center established by Mapúa as the service provider of DepEd’s Alternative Learning System (ALS) program. ALS caters to out-of-school children in the official school age and adult learners (18 years old and above) who were not able to begin or continue basic elementary and secondary education in formal school. It presents more educational opportunities to Filipino learners of different interests and demographic and socioeconomic profiles and addresses the needs of marginalized groups.
ALEAP is administered by the University’s Office for Social Orientation and Community Involvement Program (SOCIP). SOCIP explored alternative ways to continuously deliver ALEAP, given the difficulties and limitations caused by the pandemic and the lack of resources of learners supported by the program. The efforts led to the development of Dunong Lingkod (https://dunonglingkod.mapua.edu.ph/), a virtual portal that administers the delivery of ALS, which stores DepEd modules and micro-lecture videos that were prepared by the faculty members of Mapúa to aid the students’ learning process.
“Setting-up the Dunong Lingkod website is a confirmation of SOCIP’s commitment to continuously provide assistance to out-of-school youths for them to be able to finish their studies even during the pandemic. The portal made the delivery of ALS through Mapúa’s Alternative Learning Equivalency and Accreditation Program possible via online, reaching more students and allowing them to learn at their own place and pace,” said SOCIP director Engr. Joyrence Mervin Q. Agas.
Initially created to deliver ALEAP online, Dunong Lingkod evolved as a free learning portal that also provides auxiliary learning resources, covering a wide array of topics that supplement learning resources to students and persons who venture into lifelong learning.
The learning strands delivered by the University in the Junior High School level of ALS are the following: Communication Skills (English and Filipino), Scientific Literacy and Critical Thinking, Mathematical and Problem Solving Skills, Life and Career Skills, Understanding the Self and Society, and Digital Citizenship. Tasks were accomplished at home and were submitted by learners through Microsoft forms. A grading system was established by DepEd specifically for the remote delivery of ALS, since no face-to-face national examination can be administered due to the pandemic.
Mapúa implemented ALEAP in 2004 and has since graduated a total of 122 students.
