To help more street children to help themselves

Not least among Childhope’s Street Education programs is the Alternative Learning System for Basic Education among the street children, which Childhope is currently conducting in partnership with the Department of Education. This program allows the Street Educators to give the street children the opportunity to earn DepEd accredited elementary grade school and high school certificates, even outside the formal school system, enabling them to claim the brighter future they deserve.

During the period, there were eighteen (18) street children who attended in the Basic Literacy and Numeracy (BLAN) classes. The street children participants learned how to read the ABC’s, count 1-10 digits, write their names and how to pronounce simple words.

In addition, there were twenty-six (26) and fifteen (15) street children from the areas of Binondo, Divisoria, Ermita, Luneta and Pier, Manila who attended the Basic Literacy Program (BLP) and Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) Program, during the period. The BLP and A&E modules, usually require 6 to 10-month class that participants need to attend in preparation for the ALS examination.

On the other hand, most of the street children participants of A&E returned to formal school this School Year 2015-2016, while waiting for the ALS examination scheduled in November 2015. 

The Street Educators will continue to monitor those street children enrolled in formal school. The Street Educators will also conduct home visits to establish relationship with the parents/guardians of the street children beneficiaries, and to conduct counselling sessions to help ensure that the students will continue and finish their studies.

The street educators assigned in different areas continue to identify and assess street youth who are potential participants of Vocational Technical / Service Skills Training. There were thirty eight (38) youth enrolled in Hotel and Restaurant Service Training, of which 24 participants completed the training while the fourteen (14) dropped out because of different family problems.The 24 youth who completed the training have attended their On–the-Job Training (OJT) sessions at Queensland Catering Service located in Las Piñas City. Out of twenty four (24) children, twenty (20) took the  NC2 examination and received the National Certificate 2 accreditation from Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), while four (4) youth are still waiting for the schedule of the examination this year 2015.

At present, trained street youth are engaged in the following establishments:

•  Eleven (11) of the graduates have an On Call Job at Prime Power Agency who have connections in the different hotels in Tagaytay, Subic (Olangapo), Cavite, Makati City.
• One (1) youth is already working in Crown Hotel in Malate, Manila.
• Two (2) are working in Red Ribbon Bakeshop in of their branches located in Cubao, Quezon City for two months now. 
• One (1) is working in McDonald’s Fast Food in Manila.
• Nine (9 ) are working On Call basis in Queensland  Catering and other catering service in Las Piñas  and Paranaque City.
• All children in On Call jobs are continuously looking for permanent jobs

All trained children who are engaged in On Call jobs are continuously looking for permanent jobs. The Social Workers assigned to this youth are also continuously conducting individual counselling to monitor their behaviors and attitude towards their jobs.