P10,000 scholarship grants

CEBU, Philippines - Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña scolded the members of the city council for not quickly acting on his project granting scholarships for graduates of public high schools in Cebu City, who will pursue college education.

The mayor said he had already set aside P100 million as the city’s initial budget for the project, but while the amount was already approved by the council, the scholarship project has not yet been discussed.

Osmeña, however, believes that there is still time to make this happen before the senior high school students graduate.

In his nightly dialogues with the residents of the city’s South District, Osmeña will always inform the public about his project that the city will give scholarships worth P10,000 to each of the graduates of public schools.

He said during the distribution of the diplomas to the graduates, the city and school officials will also hand to the graduates a “coupon” that they can use to enroll in any state school in the city and either the Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) and University of Cebu (UC). 

Osmeña had tasked education consultant Joy Augustus Young to help speed up the documentation of the project to avoid further delay.

Young said he already met with the concerned school officials at twice where they discussed the implementation of the mayor’s project.

According to Young, the officials of state colleges in Cebu City, including UC and CIT, said the mayor’s plan is doable.

There is a need for the mayor to sign an agreement with the administrators of the schools, particularly UC President Augusto W. Go, CIT president Gregorio Escario and other heads of public schools about the implementation of the project.

But the law provides that the mayor may only be allowed to enter into agreements with other parties once he has the authority from the city council to do it.

There are also plans that the scholarship grants can also be used to cover other expenses like books and miscellaneous expenses and not only tuitions fees.

“Awhag nako sa mga ginikanan nga dili lang sila maguol nga P10,000 ra ang unang budget para sa scholarship kay amo ra kana unya nga pun-an kon matan-aw namo nga maayo ang epekto sa project,” said Young.

Young said another meeting with him and the representatives of various state colleges, including UC and CIT, will be this Wednesday to iron out all issues about the scholarship project.

Aside from the P10,000 scholarship grant, Osmeña also announced to give another P10,000 for those graduates of public high schools from the city’s mountain barangays if they pursue their college studies.

“Ang ako g’yod nga tumong nga paghatag og scholarship mao nga momenos ang out of school youth kay makapadayon na man sila pagtungha sa college. Kon dili sila moeskwela, naa ra nila pero dili nila mapahimuslan ang scholarship grant,” the mayor explained.

Osmeña said the city has enough funds for the scholarship grants of graduates from the city’s public high schools because of the sale of lots at the South Road Properties. — /NLQ (FREEMAN NEWS)