Last year, GPF’s Alternative Learning System (GlobALS) held its first commencement exercise on June 12, 2012 at Talipapa National High School, City of Malabon. Thirty-nine students passed the Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) Test and 73 people completed the GPF Livelihood Workshop. Many of the Livelihood Workshop graduates were women seeking new means of economic empowerment.

Six elementary and 33 high school GlobALS learners who passed the national A&E Test received a certification from the Department of Education. Elementary Level students who successfully passed the test are eligible for high school enrollment, while Secondary Level students are eligible to take college entrance exams and enroll in college level courses. They can also apply for work that requires a high school diploma.

Lorna Montes, a GlobALS learner from Talipapa, shared her enthusiasm when she  heard she passed the National A&E Test with an impressively high score. “I am really happy because I can now enroll to a college or find a job to help my family,” Lorna told GPF during an interview.

Also present at the commencement exercises were graduates from a week-long Livelihood Workshop that were simultaneously held in all four Community Learning Centers in Metro Manila. Learners were taught practical skills to help better support themselves, their families and their communities. Such skills include basic hotel and restaurant services; handicraft processing; basic  pattern and dress making; food processing and preservation and other economic activities. Many housewives and mothers from Culiat, a Muslim community in Quezon City, looking for ways to support their families and children’s education, made up the graduating class.

This article was originally published on http://www.gpffoundation.org.ph in 2012.