College education now open to more 4Ps families

MANILA, Philippines - The family of Christian Taglucop, 21, of Barangay Nipa, Palanas, Masbate, is a beneficiary of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). Being the third of nine children, he new that going to college was but a dream.

When he finished high school, he asked his parents to send him to college. But he remembers that his father, with tears in his eyes, said his income was not enough to send him to college.

Then in 2012, he saw a spark of hope after being identified as one of the recipients for the Students Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (SGP-PA).

Apart from support given to children until they finish high school, the 4Ps also extends help to selected and qualified students entering college.

The national government, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and in partnership with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), instituted the SGP-PA. It provides higher education to poor households that will give beneficiaries better opportunities of being employed that will eventually help them improve quality of life.

Under SGP-PA, a student grantee like Christian receives a maximum of P60,000 per school year to cover tuition fees, school supplies, food, clothing, lodging and other school related expenses.

Christian is currently in his second year taking up Bachelor of Science in Fisheries in Bicol University Tabaco Campus.

“I am so happy now with my course. I study hard because I want to help my siblings finish their studies up until college,” he said in Filipino.

The DSWD aims to increase the number of SGP-PA grantees so that more children will be provided with higher education and more households will have better chances of improving their lives. In June, the SGP-PA is set to cover an additional 36,000 incoming college students.

Beneficiaries of the program are required to take up courses that are among those identified based on the national development plans manpower demands. These include information technology (IT)-related courses, agriculture, teacher education, science and math, engineering and health sciences-related courses.

4Ps was launched in 2008 covering 300,000 households. The program scaled up to 3.9 million households by the end of 2013.

In 2012, the program, together with CHED and DOLE, started the SGP-PA for selected 4Ps beneficiaries. This year, the SGP-PA, which is now the Expanded Students’ Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA), will also be opened to other indigent but deserving households identified as poor under the National Household Targeting System.