Manila, July 17 -- Almost 1,100 youths, grade school learners, and parents in Lingayen town, Pangasinan benefitted from the Department of Social Welfare and Development's (DSWD) "Tara, Basa!" (Let's Read) tutoring program.

DSWD Innovations Division officer-in-charge Darwin Chan, in an interview Thursday, said they began the program, which aims to address foundational literacy gaps of young children, in May and was completed on July 12.

It provided cash-for-work opportunities to 100 students who worked as tutors and 50 youth development workers, all from Pangasinan State University and who received PHP468 per day for two- to three-hour tutorials and parenting sessions for 20 days.

"The tutor-to-learner ratio of 1:5 for tutoring sessions...