To Undersecretaries
Assistant Secretaries
Regional, Bureau and Center Directors
Schools Division Superintendents
Heads of Private Schools

1. The April 2003 Nonformal Education Accreditation and Equivalency (NFE A&E) Te:sts will be administered in approved designated Testing Centers on Sunday, 27 April 2003 to qualified Filipiino citizens, Balikbayans and Foreigners, in the identified sites with NFE A&E implementation in the following regions.
   Project Sites
   National Capital Region – All Schools Divisions
   Region I – La Union, Pangasinan I & II, I locos Norte & Sur and Laoag City
   Region II – Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya
   Region III – Bataan, Pampanga, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija
   Region IV – Oriental Mindoro, Romblon, Batangas and Cavite
   Region V – Camarines Norte, Catanduanes, Masbate and Sorsogon
   Region VI – Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Sagay and Negros Occidental
   Region VII – Cebu City, Lapu-lapu City, Mandaue City, Bohol and Negros Oriental
   Region VIII – Southern Leyte, Northern Samar and Western Samar
   Region IX – Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur and Isabela*
   Region X – Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Gingoog Citty, Camiguin and Ozamiz City
   Region XI – Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao City and Compostela
   Region XII – Cotabato City, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos City
   Region XIII – Surigao City and Surigao del Norte
   Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) – Abra and lfugao
   Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) – Maguindanao and Basilan Province*
   *Depends on the peace and order situation
2. The prospective NFE A&E examinees are out-of-school youth and adults, aged 15 years and above (as of 27 April 2003) who are basically literate or have completed the Functional Education and Literacy Program (FELP). To be eligible as a potential test taker, the prospective registrant must be out of school for at least three (3) months on the date of the registration. Any misrepresentation made by any registrant with regard to his/her identity, age and status (out-of-school for at least three months) will render the registration and the test result invalid.
3. The NFE A&E Tests in the elementary and secondary levels are open to prospective examinees from either of the following categories:
   • Learners who have attended or are attending learning sessions conducted by service providers contracted under the NFE A&E Learning Support Delivery System (LSDS), or
   • Qualified individuals who are basically literate and have not enrolled in nor attended the NFE A&E learning sessions but have been found to be qualified to take the tests after undergoing the screening process conducted by the Test Registration Officer (TRO) assigned in the area,
   • Learners or individuals who have taken previous NFE A&E Tests but have not passed the test.
   • BP-OSA learners who may wish to take the NFE A&E Tests in the approved testing centers.
4. The potential NFE A&E examinees who have met the abovementioned qualifications will be allowed to register upon presentation of two copies of recent 1” x 1″ photographs (taken within the past twelve months) and any authentic proof of identification. Applicants without photographs and authentic proof of identification will not be registered. They should be advised to register at any day within the registration period when they can present these requirements.
5. The Test Registration Officer (TRO) should see to it that the registrants have gained basic literacy skills, can accomplish the Demographic Information Sheet (DIS) at the back of the registration form by themselves (our experience shows that others accomplish this for them) and have met the abovementioned qualifications before they are allowed to register. Passing the NFE A&E Tests means that the NFE A&E Elementary and Secondary Level passers have gained learning achievement comparable to the graduates of the formal elementary and secondary education system.
6. The Test Registration Officer (TRO) who is a District NFE Coordinator or a teacher designated, by the principal are authorized to register prospective examinees. The District NFE Coordinators or teachers designated as Test Registration Officers who will register applicants on weekdays and on Saturdays and Sundays during the registration period will be granted honorarium for the work rendered as verified by the school head upon presentation of a duly accomplished Form 48 submitted to the Schools Division Superintendent (SDS).
7. The Registration Period for the NFE A&E Tests starts on 27 January 2003 and ends on 28 February 2003. There will absolutely be no extension of the registration Period to provide time for processing of the forms and packaging of test materials.
8. BNFE and other Central Office and Regional Staff will be assigned to the approved designated Registration/Testing Centers on the last three days of February 2003 to observe and provide technical assistance to the Test Registration Officers (TRO) in the processing of registration forms and to oversee the preparation of the Test Registration Monitoring Form (TRM-01).
9. There will be two levels of the NFE A&E Tests – Elementary Level (approximately three hours and thirty minutes) and Secondary Level (approximately four hours and fifteen minutes) which are paper and pencil-based tests with multiple-choice type questions based on the skills and competencies detailed in the NFE Curriculum Framework and an essay writing test. Both the Elementary and Secondary Level Tests will be administered simultaneously in the morning of 27 April 2003. The test will start at 7:30 a m. Elementary and Secondary level examinees should be at the designated Testing Centers before 7:30 a.m. on 27 April, the day of the tests bringing with them the lower portion of the Test Registration Form for presentation to the Examiner.
10. In order to qualify for an Elementary or Secondary Level Certificate, NFE A&E examinees will have to pass both the multiple-choice test and the writing composition assessment. Examinees who fail to meet the minimum requirements of either of these tests will not be eligible to receive an NFE A&E Certificate.
11. The Registration Centers, which also serve as Testing Centers, are public or private elementary or high schools which were designated/recommended by the Schools Division Superintendents. A complete list of Testing Centers is attached in Enclosure No. 2. No change of Testing Centers will be allowed unless absolutely necessary and with written approval of the Undersecretary for Regional Operations and Nonformal Education or the Director IV of the BNFE. The number of examinees per testing room is limited to only thirty (30) except for the last room which may have less than thirty examinees. Differently-abled examinees are assigned to a testing room in the ground floor nearest the gate and/or toilet.
12. The Bureau of Nonformal Education (BNFE), in coordination with the National Education Testing and Research Center (NETRC), Health and Nutrition Center (HNC), Bureau of Elementary Education (BEE), Third Elementary Education Project (TEEP), Bureau of Secondary Education (BSE), Secondary Education Development Project (SEDP) and the Regional Offices and Schools Divisions shall oversee this testing activity. The BNFE Director, Regional Directors and Schools Division Superintendents shall ensure the effective supervision and administration of these tests in their respective sphere of responsibility. All these offices shall assist the BNFE in the monitoring of the test administration. A one-day orientation with the aforecited personnel will be conducted at 1:30 in the afternoon of 22 April 2003 at the Bulwagan ng Karunungan, DepEd Complex, Pasig City.
13. An Orientation on the Test Administration and the use of the Examiner’s Manual for Test Administration will be conducted by the DepEd Central Office Staff in the Division Level for the Testing Center Administrators (school principal of the school serving as testing center), Examiners and Roving Proctors and other concerned staff on 25 April 2003, two days or one day before the test at the Division Office or designated testing centers. They are advised to inspect the testing rooms where they are assigned, the day before the test and make the necessary boardwork and to ensure that only thirty (30) armchairs, are in the room.
14. Honorarium
    All duly designated officials and staff who will serve during the conduct of the tests will be given honorarium for the service rendered.
15. Attached are the following Enclosures:
    No. 1A – Guidelines on the Registration of the NFE A&E Tests
    No. 1B – Guidelines on the Test Administration of the NFE A&E Tests
    No. 2 – Final List of Approved Testing Centers
    No. 3A – NFE A&E Test Registration Form (Elementary Level)
    No. 3B – NFE A&E Test Registration Form (Secondary Level)
    No. 4 – List of NFE A&E Registrants by Testing Room (NFE A&E Test Form 1)
    No. 5A – NFE A&E Test Registration Monitoring Form (NFE A&E TRM-01), Elementary Level, with instructions at the back
    No. 5B – NFE A&E Test Registration Monitoring Form (NFE A&E TRM-01), Secondary Level, with instructions at the back
16. Any breach of security and any violation of policies governing the administration of the NFE A&E Tests, such as allowing nonqualified persons to register and take the test, reading of the test booklets by persons other than the qualified examinees, photocopying of the test booklets, supplying answers to the test questions to the examinees and other related acts will be dealt with accordingly in accordance with the provisions of DECS Order No. 85, s. 1999.
17. Immediate and wide dissemination of the contents of this Order to all concerned is desired.

Reference : DECS Order Nos. 22, 40, 85 and 92, s. 1999
DECS Order Nos. 8, 47 and 61, s. 2000 DECS Order Nos. 17 and 24, s. 2001 DepEd Order Nos. 11 and 17, s. 2002

To be indicated in the Perpetual Index under the following subjects:
ACCREDITATION
NONFORMAL EDUCATION
EQUIVALENCY
TEST POLICY
EXAMINATION