The Local School Board chaired by Mayor John Dalipe has approved the City Reading Program Plan with a total budget allocation of P13.600 million as proposed by the Zamboanga City Schools Division Office.

Targeted for implementation from June to August this year, the City Reading Program will involve the Reading Engagement Across Developmental Stages (READS) strategy with series of activities aimed at helping build capacity and enable Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers to acquire relevant knowledge, skills and competencies to facilitate learning through play.

It also aims to develop an understanding of the ECE in MATATAG Curriculum, and cover the gaps between the ECE curriculum and the emergent literary competencies and on differentiated ways of conducting assessment among ECE teachers.

Under the proposal, the amount of P5.100 million was earmarked for “Technology-Based Reading Program,” P3 million for “Continuous Improvement: Rewards and Recognition,” P2 million for “Read to Learn Activities: Reading and Recreation,” another P2 million for “Continuous Improvement:  Benchmarking,” and P1.5 million for “Professional Development of ECE teachers, Capacity Building Activities in Emergent and Beginning Literacy.”

Dalipe convened the LSB last Feb. 2 at City Hall Conference Room to discuss issues and concerns involving the education sector in Zamboanga City, and preparations for the Zamboanga Peninsula Regional Athletic Association (ZPRAA) Meet, which the city will host after 18 long years this coming April 21-26.

The LSB approved the amount of P27 million for the ZPRAA hosting. The last time Zamboanga City played host to the regional meet was in 2016.

The Board also deliberated on the proposal for the city-funded Alternative Learning System (ALS) and Community Learning Centers (CLC), pursuant to RA 11510, institutionalizing the ALS in Basic Education for Out-of-School Children in Special Cases and Adults.”

The Division Office reported a dramatic increase in the number of ALS passers in the city from 536 in 2020-2021 to 1,566 in 2022-2023 due to the continuous efforts that catered to needs of the out-of-school youth by delivery of quality inclusive education.

For the SY 2023-2024, the city had a total ALS enrollment of 2,890 spread to eight Senior High Schools—Ayala National High School, Mercedes NHS, Don Pablo Lorenzo Memorial High School, Ramon Enriquez High School, Talon-Talon NHS, Vitali NHS, Baliwasan SHS Stand Alone and Manicahan National High School.-(Vic Larato)