Rock Ed Philippines will be handing out awards to 10 Outstanding X.OSYs—or 10 former out-of-school youths who did not have the chance to finish a college degree but took either a vocational or technical course and found livelihood.

 

The awards will be given out at the Shaw Boulevard MRT station at 3 p.m. Sunday. The awarding is part of Rock Ed’s “Rock the Riles,” a series of simultaneous gigs that celebrate human rights. “The right to learn is a basic human right we embrace fiercely,” says Rock Ed founder Gang Badoy.

 

The trophy is the work of artist Ovvian Castrillo-Hill. She created the flame from scraps of brass found in her and her father Ed Castrillo’s studio.

 

Some awardees were nominated by the Department of Education based on the “Abot Alam” program for out-of-school youth in barangays; some are from Tesda (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) programs and one is from Rock Ed’s Prison Alternative Education Program called Rock the Rehas.

 

All the awardees faced tremendous obstacles, but none of them stopped learning and developing themselves.

 

“Rock Ed created the X.OSY Award to tell all Filipinos that while formal education is valuable, it is not the only option to have a progressive, self-sufficient, economically sound life. Mabuhay ang Pilipinong may diskarte para sa mabuti,” says Gang.