Scholarships worth P1.12B up for over 76,000 studes

Cebu first district representative and House deputy majority leader Eduardo Gullas announced recently that the government has allotted P1.12 billion for the scholarship benefits of more than 76,000 students in the country for next school year.

Gullas, himself an educator and president of the University of the Visayas and Gullas Medical College, said the scholarship fund was contained in the P1.12-trillion national budget for 2007 passed by the House of Representatives recently.

Gullas reported that the Commission on Higher Education has an allocation of some P441 million for the scholarship of about 34,475 college students, while the Department of Science and Technology was given P410.7 million to build up the country's scientific and technological manpower through scholarship support to more than 10,598 scholars of the Science Education Institute and to subsidize 3,264 scholars from the Philippine Science High Schools throughout the country.

The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Gullas added, was given P200 million to finance the education of 13,800 students that are enrolled in private vocational schools in the country.

The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples has an allocation of P72.6 million for the tuition and allowances of more than 13,989 students from various cultural communities in the country.

According to Gullas, in 2005, there were 11,989 students from the NCIP that benefited from the government's educational aide scheme. - Gregg M. Rubio