The
Mobile Teaching Program (MTP) was conceived to address the
basic education needs for the province with one of the lowest
literacy rates in the country. As the former governor (a
former school teacher himself) has noted, “In the
Cordillera, building schools will not solve the drop-out
problem. Communities are too far apart. The teachers just
have to go where the pupils are.”
In
fact, 12 Ifugao mountains have heights ranging from 925
to 2,523 meters above sea level. Communities are situated
several kilometers apart from each other and students have
to hike for hours along rocky trails, dangerous slopes and
wide rivers. The grueling fatigue associated with schooling
coupled with having empty stomachs force more than half
of the student population to drop out of school long before
they can even complete their elementary education.
As
a component of the UNICEF-assisted Ifugao Child Survival
and Women Development Program under the Office of the Governor,
the program’s aim is to provide access to learning
with the emphasis on the 3Rs (Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic)
to children ages 6-12 who are unable to attend regular schooling
due to distance and poverty. Mobile teachers organize multi-grade
classes from Grades 1 to 6 in adjacent communities. Classes
are usually held in the house of a volunteer, the chapel,
or the barangay hall. Students meet three times a week and
are required to finish assigned modules until the teacher
comes back the week after.
To
date, the program has been replicated in 4 provinces in
the Cordillera, namely Abra, Benguet, Kalinga-Apayao and
the Mt. Province. Due to the strong commitment of the mobile
teachers, majority of the MTP students have completed elementary
education and have been admitted to regular schools. Literacy
rate in the province has also improved from 78% in 1988
to 86.1% in 1993. A number of multi-grade centers have likewise
been converted to regular elementary schools. In addition,
the program has benefited not just the children but also
the growing number of adults who sit-in to learn how to
read, write, and perform basic mathematical skills.
