Educational initiative for the out of school youth

The DLSU-Center for Social Concern and Action’s Lasallian for Social Development Program - Lasallian Accessible, Relevant, and Alternative Learning (L-ARAL) facilitated the conduct of a Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) Workshop for its ALS Batch No. 12 learners on September 24, 2025, at Andrew 911, DLSU.

Ms. Glenna Paraan, the GEDSI Resource Person, a portfolio Gender Equality and Inclusion Specialist, started the workshop by encouraging learners to surface their questions and curiosities about gender, creating a safe space for open dialogue. Through a series of engaging and reflective activities, the participants critically analyzed and dismantled deeply ingrained societal gender norms, moving from passive acceptance of gender stereotypes to active, critical awareness of how gender shapes their identities, power dynamics, and societal structures—deepening their awareness of social realities and inequalities. Key topics included Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC), gender mainstreaming, stereotypes, and discrimination.

The session also highlighted the importance of empathy, respect, and inclusion in community life. Real-life examples enabled participants to connect theory with lived experiences, deepening their understanding of how gender biases and inequalities manifest in everyday contexts.

Learning sessions such as these reinforce learning and strengthen the ALS program’s commitment to holistic, transformative education. This partnership with the Department of Education ALS aims to equip learners with gender-sensitive perspectives and empower them to become advocates for equality. The workshop also contributes to the localization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality). The activity reflects DLSU’s continued efforts to cultivate socially responsive learners prepared to advance inclusive and equitable development in their communities.

A project evaluation was conducted late last year to identify its gains. Based on the information shared by the project implementers, the als project has been able to provide access to and quality of education to identified and screened out of school youth in district 5 manila. specifically, these include the following: a standardized educational module for elementary and high school students, presence of a fulltime instructional manager in charge of the teaching the students and linkaging with other educational institutions, building up of the library of educational references, presence of student organizations from dlsu who are supplementing the sessions provided by the ims, assistance provided by the local government units in dealing with incidental problems by the students and parents, and a bridging program for als passers. Another significant project gain is the taking up of college entrance examinations at dlsu of several als passers.

As the new als school year opens this januray 2014, further improvement to the project will be introduced. These include the following: consolidation of the brgy and center based sessions at the als project venue to maximizing this for learning, setting of schedules or calendaring of Learning Strands/Modules with emphasis on core modules per learning strand, reviewing of methods of teaching core modules per strand (especially integrating an emphasis on essay writing), use of Audio-Visual based learning in selected core modules per learning strand, sustained mechanism for Post-A & E Takers and/or Passers through Skills-based Learning Sessions and Bridging Program sessions and other dlsu related policies and procedures.

Thus for this year, the project aim for increasing the passing rate of our als students, improve the learning methodology and encourage the participation of lasallian students and faculty members in the als project.