The Quezon City government is offering senior high school programs to persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) detained inside Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory (QCJMD) to help them continue and finish their basic education.

In a press statement released on Tuesday, Sept. 21, Mayor Joy Belmonte emphasized that every citizen has the right to a proper education.

“Dito sa lungsod, hindi tayo papayag na maging hadlang ang katayuan o sitwasyon sa buhay para hindi makapag-aral. Sa QC, ang edukasyon ay pantay, inklusibo, at bukas para sa lahat,” she added.

[Here in the city, we will not allow social status or life situations to be a hindrance for them to not able to study. Education is equal, inclusive, and open to everyone at QC.]

The SHS programs that will be offered are technical, vocational and livelihood strands specializing in home economics, bread and pastry production, cookery, and commercial cooking.

Also offered are Information and Communications Technology (ICT), animation and computer programming, and shielded metal arc welding (SMAW).

Belmonte also said that while detainees are inside the QC jail, the local government would provide them opportunities to impart skills that they can utilize when they return to their respective communities.

The initiative was formalized through a memorandum of agreement signed by the QCJMD and the School Division Office (SDO) last week.

Belmonte said upon graduation, the inmates could take a competency-based assessment by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

Once they pass, they will receive a National Certificate Level II (NC II).

In August, 128 women inmates from the Quezon City Jail Female Dormitory (QCJFD) graduated from elementary and junior high school under the Alternative Learning System (ALS) program.