Abstract
In 2000, the government of the Philippines launched its National Service Training Program (NSTP), a compulsory 2-semester course component for all the country’s Bachelor and technical vocational students. There is a choice of three subject areas, one of which is the Literacy Training Service (LTS) module. This is designed to train students in teaching literacy and numeracy skills to schoolchildren, out-of-school youths and other citizens in need of their services, including prison inmates. This article looks into the application of NSTP-LTS at New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila. The author’s study involved 24 students (13 female, 11 male) from the University of the Philippines teaching 40 male inmate learners incarcerated in the national penitentiary’s medium security compound over a period of two months. Many of the inmate learners (aged 14–61) had very low literacy and numeracy skills, and some had never been to school at all. The university students were immersed in an environment entirely unknown to them and performed roles from which they obtained a different perspective and understanding of society. The inmate learners were eager to avail of this opportunity to participate in second-chance education. Despite the many benefits of this learning process for all participants, in her conclusion, the author points out several challenges which still need to be overcome to optimise the application of NSTP-LTS in correctional institutions of the Philippines.
Résumé
Application du module Service de formation à l'alphabétisation du Programme national de service de formation dans la prison de New Bilibid (Philippines) – Le Gouvernement philippin a lancé en 2000 son programme national de formation, module didactique sur deux semestres obligatoire pour tous les élèves en formation professionnelle technique et les étudiants en licence du pays. Ils peuvent choisir entre trois domaines, dont le service d’alphabétisation. Ce dernier a pour but de former les étudiants à enseigner les compétences de base en alphabétisme et numératie aux écoliers, aux jeunes déscolarisés et à d’autres citoyens nécessitant ces prestations, dont les personnes incarcérées. Le présent article analyse l’application de ce module dans la prison de New Bilibid de Muntinlupa-Ville, Metro Manila. L’auteure a impliqué dans son étude 13 étudiantes et 11 étudiants de l’université des Philippines, qui ont dispensé pendant une période de deux mois un enseignement à 40 apprenants masculins incarcérés dans le centre pénitentiaire national de sécurité moyenne. Un grand nombre d’entre eux (âgés de 14 à 61 ans) avaient des compétences de base très succinctes, et quelques-uns n’avaient jamais été scolarisés. Les étudiants ont été immergés dans un environnement qui leur était entièrement inconnu, ils ont assumé des tâches qui leur ont ouvert une perspective et permis une appréhension différentes de la société. Les détenus apprenants étaient très désireux de saisir cette occasion de suivre un enseignement de la seconde chance. Malgré les nombreux bienfaits de cette démarche d’apprentissage pour tous les participants, l’auteure relève dans sa conclusion plusieurs défis qui restent à surmonter afin d’optimiser l’application de ce programme dans les établissements pénitentiaires des Philippines.
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Notes
Short historical portraits of each of the seven facilities are provided on the website of the Bureau of Corrections at http://www.bucor.gov.ph/facilities.html [accessed 8 July 2019].
The formal education system in the Philippines has three main sections. Elementary education comprises kindergarten and Grades 1–6 (with the language of instruction up to Grade 3 being one of 12 local mother tongues, before switching to English in Grade 4); Junior high (lower secondary) school comprises Grades 7–10, and Senior high (upper secondary) school comprises Grades 11 and 12. ALS Levels 1, 2 and 3 correspond to elementary Grades 1,2 and 3, but are only taught in Filipino (sometimes complemented by English), and not in provincial local languages.
The other two are Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS) and the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC).
DALTA stands for Daisy and Antonio Laperal Tamayo, who founded this university in 1975.
While the Philippine school year starts in June, ALS enrolment may coincide with that, but being module-based, admission to ALS is possible year-round.
Videoke, which is popular particularly in the Philippines, is a derivative of karaoke. A karaoke machine, invented in Japan in the early 1970s, plays popular songs with the singer’s voice tuned out and the lyrics shown on a screen. Participants using the machine sing along, microphone in hand, following the lyrics. A videoke machine has the added features of video recording and rating of performers, enhancing the competitive aspect.
The model was developed by four people, Richard Tanner Pascale and Anthony Athos (Pascale and Athos 1981), and Tom Peters and Robert Waterman (Peters and Waterman 1982), with the latter two being former consultants at McKinsey & Co, an international management consulting company, hence the name. For more information, see Peters (2011).
The term dark tourism refers to visiting travel destinations which are historically associated with death and tragedy.
At July 2019 conversion rates, the amount of PHP 1,000 equals roughly USD 19.56.
“Of these, 183 are living and 2 are extinct. Of the living languages, 175 are indigenous and 8 are non-indigenous. Furthermore, 39 are institutional, 67 are developing, 38 are vigorous, 28 are in trouble, and 11 are dying” (Ethnologue 2019).
The Student Body Council is the inmate learners’ representative body. It is comprised of inmate learners’ duly-elected batch mates, also referred to as “batch officers” (a batch, in this context, is a class).
Bartolina, the Filipino word for dungeon, refers to isolation dormitories.
This also applied to the NSTP-LTS students involved in this study. Their experiences of their first encounter with the prison environment are reflected in their statements presented in a separate section of this article.
Positive psychology refers to “the scientific study of what makes life most worth living” (Peterson 2008).
The CWTS [Civic Welfare Training Service] is one of the other two NSTP modules university students can opt for.
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This article/the work discussed in it was funded by a Research Grant from the Asian Institute of Tourism, University of the Philippines in Diliman.
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Lopez, E.L.F. Application of the Literacy Training Service component of the National Service Training Program in New Bilibid Prison (Philippines). Int Rev Educ 65, 755–784 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-019-09799-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-019-09799-w