THE DEPARTMENT of Justice’s (DOJ) Bureau of Corrections cited the Artlets Volunteers in Action (AVA) and the Office for Community Development for help to educate prisoners at the New Bilibid Prison, Muntinlupa.
AVA was named “Volunteers in Prison” for its inmate education program, which offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology by having UST professors teach at the New Bilibid’s medium security camp.
“The program was chosen by the inmates themselves, According to them, it will help them understand better the dynamism of society and more so the reason of their imprisonment,” said Faculty of Arts Letters (Artlets) Asst. Prof. Marina Gamo, program coordinator.
Conceptualized by Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Armando de Jesus when he was still Artlets dean the program also includes guidance and counseling, seminars, and workshops. The facilitators also hold counseling sessions with the inmates’ families.
At present, 20 inmates are enrolled in the program. Facilitators, who write the modules themselves, lecture every Monday and Tuesday. The teachers are Dr. Marilu Madrunio for English I; Prof. Carlito Dalangin for Contemporary World Geography; Prof. Florence Ledesma for Mathematics 101; Prof. Robert Ampil for Filipino I and Gamo for Sociology I. Joanarc T. Villaflor
