CAMOTES ISLAND, Cebu -- The Department of Education (DepEd) will formally integrate the kindergarten education in Philippine basic education next school year for children with ages five and six years old as part of the government education program dubbed as the K+12 program.

But kids in Kanyawan, San Francisco, Camotes Island with ages ranging as young as 2, 3, 4 or even five years old got the chance of preparing themselves for school through the program dubbed as “supervised neighborhood playgroups or SNP”.

For 34-year-old Marites Permentera, the establishment of a SNP, an equivalent of the “day-care” center was a dream come true enabling her to send her 4-year old daughter to learn the rudiments of education such as writing and reading as well as how to mingle with other children her age.

But the SNP, a project of Plan Philippines (Plan), a non-government organization working to promote child rights and lift children out of poverty, is different from the regular day care or pre-school centers managed by the Department of Education (DepEd) or the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).     Jeffrey C. Tiangco