DepEd to subsidize private education of 400,000 HS students

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) plans to subsidize the private school education of some 400,000 incoming senior high school students in 2016 to help ease the worsening congestion in public schools.

“We are looking at offering 400,000 vouchers for Grade 11 in 2016. Grade 10 ESC (Education Service Contracting) grantees will automatically qualify for the vouchers,” DepEd Undersecretary for Finance Francisco Varela said yesterday.

The ESC is a major program of the Government Assistance for Students and Teachers in Private Education Act or GASTPE.

At present, the DepEd is providing subsidy to 850,000 to 900,000 high school students, including 350,000 Grade 7 students, under the GASTPE.

The government subsidizes students in private high schools because these students can no longer be accommodated in public high schools.

There will be about 2.2 million incoming Grade 11 and Grade 12 students in public schools in 2016 and 2017, according to Varela.

He said that by 2016, they expect between 750,000 to 800,000 students to take up Grade 11 and 12 in private schools because of the vouchers program, including some 350,000 to 400,000 GASTPE beneficiaries.

“The GASTPE scholars will automatically qualify for the vouchers in senior high school,” said Varela.

Under the voucher system, the DepEd issues a coupon directly to students to enable them to enroll in eligible private educational institutions or non-DepEd public schools under a full or partial tuition subsidy.

To be eligible for vouchers, a student has to be at least a public high school graduate.

Varela said for the senior high school vouchers, DepEd eyes P22,500 per year for Metro Manila and P16,000 per year elsewhere.

This school year, the DepEd has increased the GASTPE subsidy for students (Grades 7 to 10) outside Metro Manila from P6,500 to P7,500 a year.

GASTPE subsidy in Metro Manila, however, remained at P10,000 per year.

“We are increasing the subsidy because we want to make it more equitable. But we will also look at the NCR (National Capital Region) subsidy,” Varela said.

Under the K to 12 Law, two years are added in the country’s basic education system.

The two additional years, or senior high school (Grades 11 and 12), will serve as specialization period for students whether in vocational skills, music, the arts or sports.

The law also gives high school graduates the option to pursue jobs with a basic education diploma or proceed to college.

The DepEd pilot tested senior high school in 30 schools nationwide in school year 2012-2013.

The first batch of Grade 12 students under the K to 12 program will graduate in 2018.

New armchairs

Meanwhile, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the DepEd have turned over almost 53,000 new armchairs made from confiscated logs to public schools in Metro Manila and the Caraga region.

As of May, a total of 53,876 armchairs have been produced, of which 52,956 have been distributed to various schools in Metro Manila and Caraga region, TESDA director general Joel Villanueva said.

Yesterday, a total of 200 new units were given for use of students of the New Era Elementary School in Tandang Sora, Quezon City.

“We hope that this initiative will help in giving students in public schools the learning environment they deserve,” Villanueva said.

Launched in 2012, the PNoy Bayanihan Project put to good use the logs confiscated in the provinces by turning them into armchairs.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources processed the logs into materials ready for manufacture, while TESDA established production sites in Metro Manila and Caraga.

TESDA also trains the youth in carpentry and cabinet making to produce the chairs.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. provided the funds to purchase equipment to be used in the project, while the DepEd takes charge of distributing the armchairs to school beneficiaries.

In Metro Manila, various schools in Taguig City have received a total of 2,500 armchairs so far; Pasig City, 2,000; Parañaque City and Pasay City, 1,200 units each; and, Quezon City, 500 units.

In Caraga region, Agusan del Sur got 13,212 units; Agusan del Norte, 13,315 units; Surigao del Sur, 10,564 units; and Surigao del Norte, 8,465 units.

Jollibee Foods Corp. also donated P1 million as seed fund for the target production of 1,785 units of chairs, TESDA said. – With Mayen Jaymalin