DSWD Launches Youth Dev’t Sessions for High School Beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), in partnership with the National Youth Commission (NYC) and Department of Education (DepEd), launches the Youth Development Session (YDS) at the Tandang Sora National High School.

The YDS is a modular session for the high school beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program commonly known as the country’s version of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program.

“We recognize that the youth of today are faced with various challenges and some of them do not have the appropriate skills and proper attitude to face these challenges. Through the YDS, we are hopeful that we will be able to save our children from the many ills of our society such as drug addiction and early pregnancy,” shared DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman.

The YDS is one of the interventions similar to the Family Development Session (FDS) given to the parents/ guardians of the beneficiaries. Through the sessions, the youth will be molded to become productive members of the society capable of helping their own families. This will also serve as venue for the youth to foster relationship creating peer support group.

“Around 150 student-beneficiaries from the National high school will participate in today’s YDS. Topics to be discussed include Changing Body, Teenage Pregnancy, and Substance Abuse. We are grateful that we have the NYC who is helping us roll-out this initiative,” added Sec. Soliman.

“The NYC, together with the DSWD, gives great value to the ability and experiences of our Filipino youth,” said Usec. Gregorio Ramon A. Tingson, Chairperson of the NYC. “But more importantly, we believe in their hopes and dreams. This is why we are giving them the spotlight today – National Heroes’ Day – to celebrate the heroes they are and aspire to be.”

Pantawid Pamilya is a human development program of the national government that invests in the health and education of poor households primarily of children aged 0-18. The program seeks to break the vicious cycle of poverty.

As of 29 July 2015, there are 4.3 million households enrolled with 1.8 million children enrolled in secondary education.

Source: www.dswd.gov.ph