BY: SALLY ATENTO-ALTEA
LEGAZPI CITY, Aug 14 (PIA) – Over 6,000 top graduates from 653 public high schools all over Bicol region will be granted automatic scholarship and admission to state universities and colleges once the Iskolar ng Bayan Bill is enacted into law.
The Senate Bill No. 2275 or Iskolar ng Bayan Bill, authored by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, proposes for the government to mandate all state universities and colleges (SUCs) to give automatic admission and scholarship grants to the top ten public high school students of their respective graduating classes.
“This is one issue we could all agree on, no matter what political color you carry. That access to quality education is a right, not a privilege, even in the tertiary level. Let us provide Filipino families, especially the poor, the kind of education that would lift them up from poverty,” Cayetano said.
The Bill has been approved on third reading by the Senate and has recently hurdle the appropriations committee in the House of Representatives.
Under the bill, SUCs are expected to grant free tuition and other school fees to the Iskolar ng Bayan in all SUCs.
The lawmaker cited the latest data from the Department of Education wherein of the total 7,913 public high schools operating for school year 2013-2014, 653 are located in the Bicol Region.
“That is roughly 6,530 students who are sure of going to college if this measure is made law, 6,530 Filipino families who have a chance of waking up to a better future,” he said.
DepEd statistics show that there are 219 public high schools in Camarines Sur, 122 in Albay, 116 in Masbate, 97 in Sorsogon, 58 in Camarines Norte, and 41 in Catanduanes, giving the region a total of 653 schools.
Cayetano said the enactment of this measure becomes particularly important now that the PDAF has been abolished by Congress, leaving some 400,000 scholars on their own to fend for their schooling.
He particularly cited the experience in Taguig City and its local government’s strong stance against corruption, a policy that has propelled the city to be one of best cities in the country to live in.
“In 2010, the city’s scholarship fund was at a measly P5 million while the allocation for garbage collection was P500 million. It was a clear injustice. But when Mayor Lani won her first term, the contract for garbage hauling was cut and the savings was used to fund a scholarship program. Now with P400-million worth of scholarship funds under the LANI Scholarship Program, over 24,000 scholars since 2010 were given the opportunity to go to college and in the process find better and higher paying jobs in the future," he said.
“This is how it should be throughout the country. If we want to help Filipinos families have better lives, we have to focus on what is really important,” Cayetano added. (SAA-PIA5/Albay)
- See more at: http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=2571407985475#sthash.85DAyjTk.dpuf
LEGAZPI CITY, Aug 14 (PIA) – Over 6,000 top graduates from 653 public high schools all over Bicol region will be granted automatic scholarship and admission to state universities and colleges once the Iskolar ng Bayan Bill is enacted into law.
The Senate Bill No. 2275 or Iskolar ng Bayan Bill, authored by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, proposes for the government to mandate all state universities and colleges (SUCs) to give automatic admission and scholarship grants to the top ten public high school students of their respective graduating classes.
“This is one issue we could all agree on, no matter what political color you carry. That access to quality education is a right, not a privilege, even in the tertiary level. Let us provide Filipino families, especially the poor, the kind of education that would lift them up from poverty,” Cayetano said.
The Bill has been approved on third reading by the Senate and has recently hurdle the appropriations committee in the House of Representatives.
Under the bill, SUCs are expected to grant free tuition and other school fees to the Iskolar ng Bayan in all SUCs.
The lawmaker cited the latest data from the Department of Education wherein of the total 7,913 public high schools operating for school year 2013-2014, 653 are located in the Bicol Region.
“That is roughly 6,530 students who are sure of going to college if this measure is made law, 6,530 Filipino families who have a chance of waking up to a better future,” he said.
DepEd statistics show that there are 219 public high schools in Camarines Sur, 122 in Albay, 116 in Masbate, 97 in Sorsogon, 58 in Camarines Norte, and 41 in Catanduanes, giving the region a total of 653 schools.
Cayetano said the enactment of this measure becomes particularly important now that the PDAF has been abolished by Congress, leaving some 400,000 scholars on their own to fend for their schooling.
He particularly cited the experience in Taguig City and its local government’s strong stance against corruption, a policy that has propelled the city to be one of best cities in the country to live in.
“In 2010, the city’s scholarship fund was at a measly P5 million while the allocation for garbage collection was P500 million. It was a clear injustice. But when Mayor Lani won her first term, the contract for garbage hauling was cut and the savings was used to fund a scholarship program. Now with P400-million worth of scholarship funds under the LANI Scholarship Program, over 24,000 scholars since 2010 were given the opportunity to go to college and in the process find better and higher paying jobs in the future," he said.
“This is how it should be throughout the country. If we want to help Filipinos families have better lives, we have to focus on what is really important,” Cayetano added. (SAA-PIA5/Albay)
- See more at: http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=2571407985475#sthash.85DAyjTk.dpuf
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