Tacloban – More than 5,000 students identified as struggling readers in Tacloban City's public schools will benefit from a tutorial project. The Department of Education (DepEd) Tacloban and Latter-day Saint (LDS) Charities have partnered to implement this initiative across 56 elementary and secondary schools. Nilo Eder, DepEd Tacloban city division information officer, expressed gratitude to LDS Charities for providing tutorial materials.
According to Philippines News Agency, these resources will aid 79 non-readers and 5,209 struggling readers, a need accentuated by the two-year school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic. LDS Charities, the humanitarian arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, plans to extend this partnership to more DepEd offices in the Philippines. Abenir Pajaro, a senior church official, revealed that the initiative is an extension of a successful program in Sarangani province started in 2018. The donation includes various educational materials, aiming to improve reading skills. This model, which involves older students tutoring younger ones, has shown a 50% improvement in reading performance in pilot schools. Besides Tacloban, LDS Charities has also supported similar projects in Puerto Princesa, Palawan; Olongapo City, Zambales; Angono, Rizal; Catarman, Northern Samar; and Ormoc City, Leyte, following the Philippines' low score in reading comprehension in the 2018 Program for International Student Assessme nt.
