Expansion of gov’t aid to students in private schools sought

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara yesterday called for the expansion of the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) to cover additional benefits like transportation and book allowances for poor students.

The GASTPE is the country’s biggest scholarship program in private schools that aims to decongest public schools.

Angara said the program needs to be strengthened for it to cover more students at higher subsidy rates.

In Senate Bill 199, Angara proposed reforms to Republic Act 6728, or the GASTPE Law, which includes prioritizing students in fifth- and sixth-class municipalities.

He also wanted those coming from poor families identified in the government’s poverty maps, like the one prepared by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, to be given “right of way” to the GASTPE program.

Recently, the Department of Education (DepEd) announced that for the coming school year, it would provide tuition subsidy to 352,328 students who would enroll in private schools through GASTPE’s education service contracting scheme.

Under the voucher system for school year 2013-2014, the amount of subsidy was P6,500 for a Grade 7 student in schools outside Metro Manila.

Noting that the program only covers tuition subsidy, Angara said other schooling expenses, “the ones which are in fact higher than tuition,” become part of the assistance package. He pushed for transportation allowance and higher funds for textbooks.

“We just cannot dump the excess of the public school system to private schools without giving them the same amount of tools we give to public school students,” he added.

In the case of textbooks, Angara said there should be “private school-public school parity” in which the amount of textbooks for GASTPE scholars shall not be less than the per student allocation in public schools.

Transportation subsidy should also be considered in special cases when a student who was not accommodated in a school in his community has to spend for commuting to a private school far from his home.

Angara’s proposed amendments to the GASTPE law also cover college students.

Angara is batting for the inclusion of qualified students in “priority courses” determined by the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

He also proposed that tuition subsidy to scholars living below the poverty line be increased by 10 percent per year, subject to availability of funds and screening by the appropriate government agency.

“Seventy percent of any increase, however, in the tuition subsidy shall be earmarked by the recipient school for the payment of the salaries of teachers while 20 percent shall be used to improve school facilities,” Angara said.

To fund all this expansion of programs, Angara proposed that DepEd be allowed to use its previous years’ savings to be augmented by other sources, such as 20 percent of travel tax and airport departure tax collections, a portion of the income of other government-owned and controlled corporations and lump-sum appropriations and other departure tax collections.

In 1998, Congress first approved the expansion of the GASTPE law to give many poor students the opportunity to avail of quality education in private schools by providing financial assistance to private schools through tuition supplements.

Over the years, however, the GASTPE financial assistance to students has fallen far below the government’s per capita cost in the public schools, Angara said.

Hence, he said, there is an urgent need for an amendatory bill to increase the amount of financial assistance to poor students in order to reduce their burden of high education cost in the secondary and tertiary levels.

The number of enrollees in Philippine public schools has been constantly increasing over the years because more and more Filipino families cannot afford the tuition in private schools.

In turn, the public school system has been unable to cope with the surge in student populations, resulting in many public schools becoming too congested and no longer conducive to student learning.

Angara said manpower and equipment shortage in public schools is aggravated by the annual increase in the budgetary needs of public schools.

He also stressed that there is a need to ensure that the current generation of children from poor families receives all the help it can get, whether in public or private schools.

Gabriela hits AFP role in Brigada Eskuwela

Meanwhile, women’s group Gabriela assailed the participation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in the recent Balik Eskuwela, or National School Maintenance Week, of the DepEd.

Obeth Montes, deputy secretary-general of Gabriela, said the AFP is merely after creating a good image for itself, especially since it has been known for blatant human-rights violations, including attack on schools, branding schoolchildren as child soldiers and killing innocent children. 

“If they think their participation will change their image and convince people that they are do-gooders, they are certainly very wrong,” Montes added. “The AFP has virtually claimed the Balik Eskuwela program as its own endeavor and dismissed the crucial participation of parents and the community.“

Gabriela also alleged that this move is part of the government’s counter-insurgency program Oplan Bayanihan that seeks to paint a good image of the military.

“Oplan Bayanihan has been proven to be the same as all other counter-insurgency operation plans of the AFP. All of these failed because their human-rights abuses far outweighed their image building,” the group added.           — With Rhodina Villanueva