BONTOC, Mt. Province – Ten passers of the Acceleration and Equivalency (A& E) examination joined the graduation exercises of two high schools in the province.

According to Alternative Learning System(ALS) coordinator Susan Aminor of the Department of Education Mt. Province Division Office, eight of the A & E passers joined the commencement rites of the graduating students of Namatec National High School in Sabangan in April 4. Earlier on April 2, two passers graduated with the fourth year students of Barlig National High School.

Aminor said these out-of-school youths (OSYs) received their certificates of rating instead of diplomas which certify that they are qualified to enroll in college.

Meanwhile, Aminor said the Department of Education Division Office has also initiated graduation rites on April 11 for other A & E passers. This is open to all passers from 2004 to 2010.

The graduation exercises of these OSYs, the first to be conducted in the province, will be held at the DepEd Dap-ayan Hall with provincial Governor Leonard G. Mayaen as the guest speaker.

The A & E test is given annually to OSYs to give them a chance to go back to formal education.

Qualified to take this test are elementary drop outs at least one year at the time of registration, who are 11 years old and above for the elementary level examination and high school drop outs at least one year at the time of registration, aging 15 years and above for the secondary level examination; and non-passers of the previous A & E tests.

The elementary passers are qualified to enroll in high school while high school passers are qualified to enroll in college.*(JBS-PIA- CAR/Mt. Province)