EDITORIAL - Many schools remiss in claiming SHS vouchers

Forty percent of private schools in Central Visayas that are offering Senior High School have already been fully paid their voucher claims for the entire schoolyear 2017-2018. The voucher program is a form of cash assistance given by the government to help tide over the additional expenses parents will incur in sending their children through two additional years of high school.

The cash assistance is given directly to the schools concerned to help defray tuition. Private schools in highly urbanized cities outside Metro Manila such as Cebu City are given P16,000 assistance per student for an entire schoolyear. The Department of Education made it very clear that the assistance is given for the entire schoolyear and is not disbursed per semester.

The remaining 60 percent of private schools in Central Visayas that have not been paid their voucher claims need to check directly with the DepEd main office in Metro Manila to see if there are any discrepancies in their claims. Discrepancies in these claims are the main reason for delays in voucher disbursements, the DepEd in Central Visayas said.

Given the foregoing information, the remaining 60 percent of private schools in Central Visayas that are enrolled in the voucher program but have not yet been paid their claims need to make haste in rechecking their claims for any discrepancies because not only is it their obligation to do so and not the DepEd’s but because it is also nearing the end of the schoolyear.

Classes for the second semester are about to begin, if they have not begun already. Pretty soon it will be the end of the schoolyear. If the claims are not paid for schoolyear 2017-2018, they could revert back to the national government because that is what the budgeting system of the government requires when it comes to unspent funding.

If the funding reverts back to the national government, those already in Grade 12 will no longer be able to enjoy the benefit because they will be graduating already as the very first batch of graduates under the Senior High program. How grossly unfair that would be to the pioneer batch of this new program if they could not enjoy the benefit that is theirs, simply because some schools have been remiss in their obligation to look after the interests of their own students.