The Department of Labor and Employment will hire 3,565 youth mentors for its Kabataan ITo special project to jumpstart nationwide familiarization and appreciation sessions on information technology for Filipinos in the disadvantaged sectors starting this month until December, a press release from DOLE said.

DOLE Secretary Marianito Roque announced Thursday after he received the reports of the National Reintegration Program for overseas Filipino workers, the Bureau of Rural Workers and the Bureau of Women and Young Workers – all DOLE offices – the preparation for the launching of the special project in the third week of October, it said.

The Kabataan ITo is a DOLE special project designed to teach young Filipinos knowledge and skills in basic information technology without joining the formal education system. The "teachers" or mentors in the project will be youth volunteers who are "IT-enabled," the press release said.

The mentors will teach an IT module consisting of a preparatory lesson on computer hardware familiarization, computer operation and MS Word processing application, and a final lesson on the use of the Internet for search and communication. The IT sessions will be for 22 hours, it added.

The labor and employment chief said that the mentors, who will render "part-time" service of less than eight hours a day or less than five days a week depending on the mentors' availability, will be paid a stipend of P25.00 per mentoring hour. He explained that the budget of P15.02 million will come from the available budgets of the DOLE regional offices, the press release also said.

The DOLE has already identified the venues for the familiarization and appreciation sessions. These will be held in the DOLE regional and field offices, regional offices of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, some computer centers, and Public Employment Service Offices, or PESOs which the DOLE and its social partners have earlier furnished with computers, it said.

DOLE regional offices, in cooperation with the PESOs and working youth organizations will recruit the IT mentors who must be results-oriented, computer-adept, and friendly to the disadvantaged youth. They must also be meticulous keeping tab of the progress of the learners, as well as patient in mentoring, the press release added.*

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