SENATOR Sonny Angara has urged the government to ensure that poor students enrolled in state universities and colleges will have priority in the grant of additional financial support provided by the newly enacted free college law.
In Quezon City, House Rep. Alred Vargas filed a measure seeking to institutionalize the grant of scholarships to public school teachers and their children.
While we are exempting all students in SUCs from paying tuition and miscellaneous fees, Angara said there should still be greater financial support for our poor students to help them pay for their dorm, transportation, books, and other school expenses.
“There should be an allocation of special help for the poorest students who are struggling to finish their studies and get their families out of poverty,” said Angara, one of the authors of the free college law.
Under Republic Act 10931, all students enrolled in SUCs, local universities and colleges and in state-run technical-vocational institutions are exempt from paying tuition and other school fees.
To support the cost of free tertiary education, the law mandates the creation of a Tertiary Education Subsidy which may cover allowance for books, supplies, transportation, room and board, and other education-related personal expenses.
Commission on Higher Education Commissioner Prospero de Vera yesterday said the government needs about P20 billion to implement the free college law—P16.8 billion will go to the 112 SUCs and 16 LUCs, and P3 billion for TVIs.
The amount necessary to fund the Tertiary Education Subsidy will be included in the budgets of the CHED and the Tesda, and will be administered by the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education Board.
The UniFAST law of 2015, which Angara principally authored, mandates to put up a system and create a Board that would oversee and harmonize all student financial assistance programs for a more targeted, speedy and sustained granting of scholarship programs.
The senator said such bigger allocation can be used to strengthen the government’s student financial assistance programs so that more poor and deserving students would benefits.
According to De Vera, the new law can help expand the current 40,000 student-beneficiaries of the Tulong Dunong Program which entitles poor students with a P12,000-grant per academic year. To qualify, the combined annual gross income of the parents of the student-grantee should not exceed P300,000.
Angara has also filed Senate Bill 134 that provides five-percent student discount on food, medicine, miscellaneous and other school fees, including books and school supplies, to underprivileged students in all levels throughout the country.
In Quezon City, Rep. Alfred Vargas has filed House Bill No. 1389 or An Act Institutionalizing the Scholarship Grants to Public School Teachers and their Children.
He said it is the responsibility of the government to provide access to free education to public school teachers and their children through scholarship grants.
“Teaching is the profession that creates all other professions. While teachers are genuinely fulfilled in their practice, they also struggle with the financial limitations of their career,” he pointed out.
He said public school teachers must have more benefits, such as free higher education.
Under the measure, public school teachers who have been in active duty for at least two years are eligible to avail of the scholarship grant to enroll in any master’s or post-graduate course.
Legitimate children of the teachers shall also be entitled to avail of the scholarship grant covering pre-school, elementary , secondary and tertiary education.
“Through this bill, not only do we boost the morale and self-esteem of Filipino teachers, but we also contribute to their educations and professional growth,” Vargas said.
“Furthermore, if enacted, this measure can attract more individuals to commit to the profession of teaching.”