Only for kids of city voters: City Hall to put a cap on scholarships

CEBU, Philippines – The promise of a P10,000 scholarship per semester in college has lured many to the public high schools in Cebu City. Not all of them though are city residents, who are benefitting from the program.

Due to reports that many are now transferring to the schools in Cebu City even if they don't live here, has prompted City Hall to put an additional requirement before one can qualify for the subsidy - the parents must be voters in the city.

Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young, chairman of the Committee on Education and head of the College Scholarship Program Committee, said that they don't want to experience what has happened with the city's financial assistance program for senior citizens.

"Ang issue na among nakitan, it's going to be similar sa senior citizens. We found out na tanang tawo nanghakot sa ilang mga apohan, kaparyentehan aron ipa-rehistro sa Cebu City. We cannot have a situation like that in the scholarship. Naa'y mga bata nga gipang-guardian-guardian lang, anak diay sa iyang igsoon or apo diay niya. Taga-isla sa Bohol gud, naabot diri," Young said.

He said that a report from the Population Commission alarmed them when the agency revealed that a recent survey shows that the number of the children at the age bracket of students graduating from high school that currently live in Cebu City is far greater than the expected number of children in that specific age bracket.

"Diin man na gikan? Sa probinsya. That's why dili na ta mudawat kung ang parents dili taga-Cebu City or dili mubotar sa Cebu City," Young said.

Next year, before the city distributes scholarship certificates, students' parents must be able to present their voter's I.D. issued by the Comelec before a recent election.

For students under the custody of their guardians, Young said that a legal guardian for them is only someone taking care of a student whose parents have already died or are legally separated. The legal guardian must be a voter of the city.

Young said that these abuses in the city's scholarship programs lead to a lot of other problems that the city will have to face.

When the student population increases due to migration, it will aggravate the shortage of classrooms, the shortage of teachers and other problems brought by the over-population of students in schools.

"Mo-balloon g'yud ang school population. Ma-disadvantaged atong mga bata kay maghuot na sila. That's a major-major issue," Young said.

He said that at present, the city needs 900 more classrooms for the ideal ratio of number of students per classroom.

The existence of the night high schools alone, he said, indicates the lack of classrooms and the lack of non-academic rooms like library, computer rooms, science laboratories and faculty rooms.

"We would not have night high schools if we have enough classrooms. If we put the students from the night schools to the day, we would need 450 rooms. The existing day class needs another 450 rooms. So we need hundreds of millions to build these," Young said.

The city spends around P700,000 to build one classroom. For 900 classrooms, the city needs P630 million.

More classrooms also mean an increase in electric and water consumption.

Charmie Pepito, member of the College Scholarship Program Committee Secretariat, said that the new policy will apply to the second batch of scholars in 2011 yet.

Though some of the 5,307 students currently enjoying the scholarship live outside Cebu City, they may continue enjoying the scholarship until they graduate.

The committee does not have a record of how many scholars reside in other cities or towns. Pepito said that it was not considered in the past since the implementation was rushed.

Students, next year, will also no longer be allowed to shift courses and transfer to another school. They are allowed to take courses which will be recommended by the career assessment or evaluation test that they have to take before they graduate.

If a student has two scholarship grants, they will have to choose which to enjoy. -/NLQ (FREEMAN)