The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), through its Field Office-10, has conducted a comprehensive capability building session for 207 Mindanao State University (MSU) students from April 1 to 3 to train them as Tutors and Youth Development Workers (YDWs) for the implementation of the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program.

The Bachelor of Science in Education students were equipped with essential skills in classroom management and various assessment tools during the three-day capability building session at the school’s Marawi City compound to prepare them for their teaching riles in June.

The students-tutors will teach grade schoolers experiencing difficulty in reading or are non-readers in madrasahs and torils, and learners in formal education, in Marawi City and Taraka, Lanao del Sur.

During the opening session, DSWD FO-10 Assistant Regional Director for Administration Salmah Basher emphasized the significant role that the college students will play in fostering positive change and promoting peace advocacy within the region.

“You will be contributing not only to the educational learning and improvement of the children but also in making them future change agents and peace advocates,” said ARDA Basher in her message to the students.

The Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program is the DSWD’s reformatted educational assistance that creates a learning ecosystem, wherein college students will be capacitated and deployed as Tutors and YDWs to help improve the reading proficiency of elementary students who are struggling to read or are non-readers.

The tutors and YDWs, in return, will receive regionally-accepted minimum wage to support their educational needs. #