Capitol, 2 state universities ink scholarship grant deal

CEBU, Philippines —  Cebu provincial government and two state universities have signed an agreement to provide scholarship grants to top senior high school graduates.

The scholarship program covers the full amount of tuition and other school fees. Scholars may enroll in either Cebu Normal University or Cebu Technological University.

 “Education of the youth is one of the priorities of the Cebu provincial government for them to have the skills, knowledge, and values to become self-reliant, productive, and patriotic citizens,” read portion of the MOA.

Unlike other scholarship programs, Governor Hilario Davide III said the new program is exclusive for senior high school graduates who finished with “highest honors” and “high honors.”

These are completers with at least 95 general average grade.

Given the bulk of top graduates across the province, a screening process will be conducted by the provincial government to select deserving students.

The parties are yet to draft program guidelines for the screening process, as well as the number of slots that will be offered next year.

The program is different from the current Capitol’s Paglaum Scholarship, which sends “poor but deserving students” to school. It started in 2016 with 143 scholars.

“It is the only scholarship grant that accepts the not-so-bright, poor but willing to study college students,” said Vice Governor Agnes Magpale.

The number of beneficiaries grew in 2017 with 567. A budget of P10 million was allocated for them.

Under the Paglaum program, each scholar gets P10,000 in tuition fee and P1,500 in semestral allowance.

For this year’s first semester, 663 applicants were accepted, bringing the total number of scholars to 1,373.

Education is among the priorities of the current provincial administration under its six-key development agenda. — KBQ (FREEMAN)