EDUCATION TRENDS

1,279 indigent studes receive gov’t scholarship

Joseph Zambrano

BAGUIO CITY -- A total of 1,279 poor but deserving college students in the Cordillera are grantees in Expanded Students’ Grants-in-Aide Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGP-PA).

Benguet State University (BSU) has the highest number of scholars with 456, followed by Ifugao State University (IFSU) with 206, Abra State Institute of Sciences and Technology (ASIST) with 197, Kalinga-Apayao State College (KASC) with 195, Mountain Province State Polytechnic College (MPSPC) with 179, and Apayao State College (ASC) with 46.

Each student grantee receives a total of P60,000 scholarship grant per year broken down to P20,000 for tuition, P5,000 for textbooks and other learning materials, and P35,000 stipend allotted for board and lodging, transportation, clothing, health and medical needs, and other basic school needs.

Joan P. Agosto, a first year student of BSU taking up Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, said the program will help her achieve her ambition to  finish college and find a job to help her family out of poverty.

“I thank the government for helping us poor, for sure in the future after finishing my studies and eventually I will be working, I will pay back the government  for their assistance, Agosto said.  

The program is under the PantawidPamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the  Department of Social Welfare and Development, in collaboration with the following national government agencies, the Commission on Higher Education, Department of Budget and Management,   and state universities and colleges.

It aims to contribute in increasing the number of enrolment in higher education in line with the national government’s priority degree programs among poor households, and support their entry to labor markets through placement assistance.

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Construction of  77 new  classrooms in Ifugao  starts

By Daniel Codamon

LAGAWE, Ifugao -- Construction of a total of 77 new classrooms in the  province under the Department of Education’s public-private partnership for infrastructure projects (PSIP)  has  started.

Records taken from the Physical Facilities and Schools Engineering Division (PFSED) showed 73 classrooms for elementary school level are distributed to the 11 towns.

The municipality of Aguinaldo has the most number of classrooms  with  17 followed by Tinoc with 14, Mayoyao-11, Alfonso Lista and Kiangan - 7 each, Lamut -5, Asipulo, Lagawe and Hingyon- 4 each, and Banaue and Hingyon- 2 each.

The  four secondary level classrooms are all located at the Kiangan National High School.

The classrooms are expected to be completed before the opening of the school year 2016-2017  to help  address  the problem of classroom shortage.

The contractor of these projects  isMegawide Construction Corporation  whose address is located at #20 N. Domingo St., Barangay Valencia 1112, Quezon City.