ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – The Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills Phase 2 (EQuALLS2) project continues to gain momentum in its quest to improve the quality of teaching implemented by teachers assigned in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.

Operating under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Outreach and Communications Director Beng Añago said that their program in English, Science, and Math for teachers, including the reading skills of students and pupils in at least nine schools where they piloted the program, dramatically improved.

Most of the teachers implementing the program are assigned in schools located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), and Central and Western Mindanao where the EQuALLS2 project is piloting its reading skills training program for all English, Science, and Math teachers.

According to Añago, majority of the pupils and students in the said areas had been observed to become average and independent readers today due to the intensive program for teachers conducted by EQuALLS2.

“The changes came about due to the one-on-one teacher training to improve the teachers’ reading skills, then to help them teach reading better,” Añago explained.

The training was based on assessments of the reading skills and weaknesses of both the teachers and their students across all grade levels.

Not only English teachers were trained but also Science and Math teachers to improve student learning across the three core subjects.

The teachers’ writing skills were also developed in the process, and supplementary books were provided from world-renowned publishers through the USAID partner Brother’s Brother Foundation, Añago explained.

As this developed, Añago also said that even out-of-school youths (OSYs), who abound in Mindanao conflict areas due to poverty and war, are showing renewed interest in education.

Conflict hotspots such as the Sulu province are registering more OSY participants in alternative basic education and livelihood skills training programs, she said.

Last March, some 1,177 OSYs from the towns of Jolo and Patikul in Sulu completed the EQuALLS2’s Basic Literacy Program.

Sulu DepEd Supervisor Eufremio Canaria said it was one of the biggest batches of the program’s completers that he has seen.

In the latest DepEd Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) test that confers on OSY passers certificates equivalent to grade school or high school diplomas, the percentage of passers almost tripled from only five percent the previous year to 13 percent this year – closer to last year’s national average of 20 percent, Canaria said.

The youth’s improved test performance came about after their educators made greater efforts to sharpen their skills in essay writing, which accounted for 50 percent of the test, the education supervisor added.