MANILA — A group of students and researchers is pushing for the expansion of the voucher program to include kindergarten and elementary students.

The Department of Education (DepEd) currently offers the Senior High School (SHS) Voucher Program, where Grade 10 (junior high school) students from public schools who want to enroll in private schools for Grade 11 (senior high school) will be given subsidy, ranging from P17,500 to P22,500, depending on the schools’ region and area.

Grade 11 students in state and local universities and colleges get subsidies ranging from P8,750 to P11,250.

Based on the guidelines, students under the SHS Voucher Program only need to maintain a passing grade to be able to secure their subsidy as they move up to higher grade. Their subsidy may be revoked if they are expelled or suspended due to disciplinary action.

Dr. Victor Limlingan from the group Student First Coalition said Wednesday the expansion of the voucher program would aid in the complementarity of public and private schools, echoing the Philippine Development Plan.

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He said the "neediest" should be prioritized.

"What we want to do is really to expand it, so that it includes, at least, basic education, especially actually the lower grades... The other thing that we want is to have a bias for the poor students," Limlingan said in a press conference.

Dr. Vicente Paqueo, also from the same group, said the number of beneficiaries would be based on the policy to be crafted and the government's budget, should the expansion push through.

"We need to have a formula to calculate how much should a country spend on average for students - public or private - to determine its subsidy," said Paqueo.

"There must be, I think, a fair distribution of the subsidy between public and private school students. Right now, actually, most of the government money, the budget for education, goes to public schools because it is directly given to public schools. A few would be given through the voucher program and other public private partnerships through the schools... It's substantial but I think it is still smaller," he added.

Student Hyacenth Bendaña said she was able to study in private schools from elementary to college through various scholarships, while maintaining certain grades.

Bendaña graduated in 2019 as the valedictorian and university student council president of the Ateneo De Manila University, and now works in groups advocating for reforms in transport, budget engagement for sectoral youth, and education.

The Student First Coalition estimates about 620,629 kinder and elementary students will benefit if the government subsidy will be expanded to cover them. The group said the computation was based on average beneficiaries in the current scope of program, and the current number of enrollees.

According to DepEd, there are 1,310,149 beneficiaries of the Senior High School Voucher Program as of Feb. 1.

For the Educational Service Contracting (ESC), which provides incoming junior high school students financial assistance ranging from P9,000 to P13,000, depending on their schools’ region and area, the number of beneficiaries is at 881,673.

In the Basic Education Report, Vice President and Education Sec. Sara Duterte promised to "work closely with Congress" for the expansion of government assistance and subsidies.

In May, DepEd's budget of P39.9 billion for the Senior High School Voucher Program was approved. It covers 1,132,155 beneficiaries.

The approved budget, meanwhile, for the Educational Service Contracting amounted to P11.05 billion. It covers 1,031,193 ESC grantees for SY 2023-2024.

FROM THE ARCHIVE

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