Caritas Manila celebrates graduation of 1,178 scholars

MANILA, Philippines — Caritas Manila’s Youth Servant Leadership and Education Program (YSLEP) celebrated the graduation of 1,178 youth servant leaders for the school year 2023-2024.

A total of 866 college students, 47 tech-vocational courses students and 265 senior high school students graduated recently as scholars of Caritas Manila.

This year’s batch produced three summa cum laudes, 30 magna cum laudes, 54 cum laudes, 48 academic excellence awardees, 42 dean’s and president’s listers and 48 special awardees.

Meanwhile, there are 632 graduates from Metro Manila, 239 from Luzon, 245 from the Visayas and 62 from Mindanao.

Additionally, 64 graduates completed the YSLEP-Gen129 program, Caritas Manila’s special initiative for agri-related courses with 36 from Luzon, 27 from the Visayas and one from Mindanao.

Last school year, Caritas Manila’s graduates numbered 1,586, with nearly 70 percent graduating with honors.

“We believe that education is the best social equalizer. To overcome poverty, we must educate as many youths as possible with the knowledge, skills and servant leadership modeled in Christian values,” said Fr. Anton Pascual, executive director of Caritas Manila.

Caritas Manila has assisted 13,716 individuals in completing their education since 1953.

Each scholar undergoes leadership formation to become a community leader. Caritas Manila said it is committed to ensuring that future leaders come from the ranks of the poor.

Through YSLEP, deserving youths are given the opportunity to complete college or tech-vocational degrees, helping to uplift their families from poverty.

Caritas Manila’s YSELP is a “resounding success” with an 82 percent employment rate among graduates with an approximate 78 percent of graduates able to support their families.

The program prioritizes disadvantaged youths from the poorest provinces, indigenous groups, victims of calamities and those affected by war and conflict.

YSLEP graduates automatically become members of Caritas Manila Scholars Association (CAMASA).

The alumni organization has a Balik-Handog program that encourages successful members to give back and help existing YSLEP scholars.

In 2023, CAMASA members raised P1,571,584.23 through personal donations and fundraising activities. To date, there are 93 CAMASA chapters nationwide with 1,072 active Balik-Handog givers.

For school year 2024-2025, Caritas Manila aims to provide scholarships to 4,500 poor but deserving youths nationwide.