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Campus Press
The ËœManila Times w w w.manilatimes.net
THURSDAY April 11, 2019
DepEd to continue SHS voucher program T
BY FRANCIS EARL CUETO
HE Department of Education (DepEd) said it would continue the Senior High School Voucher Program (SHS VP) for school year (SY) 2019-2020 despite budgetary challenges.
“DepEd will continue to engage the services of private educational institutions and non-DepEd public schools offering SHS through the voucher program under the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers
in Private Education,� a DepEd statement said. The Education department is mandated to uphold the right of every Filipino to quality basic education by providing access, whether through public
programs or through arrangements based on the principles of public-private partnership, the agency said. This is in consonance with Section 10 of Republic Act 10533 or “An Act Enhancing the Philippine Basic Education System by Strengthening its Curriculum and Increasing the Number of Years for Basic Education, Appropriating Funds Therefor and for Other Purposes.� 4HE $EP%D CLARIkED LAST !PRIL that pending the issuance of the 2019 General Appropriations Act
(GAA), the national budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 is deemed reenacted. It said the Department of Budget and Management has released Circular Letter 2019-01 (Release of Funds for the First Quarter of FY 2019) stating that in the absence of the 2019 GAA, the budgetary support to cover the operations of all national agencies is equivalent to the appropriations based on the FY 2018 GAA (RA 10964, or the “General Appropriations Act 2018,� as reenacted) or on the FY 2019
National Expenditure Program (NEP) — whichever is lower. Under FY 2018 GAA, the total appropriation for the SHS VP in private and non-DepEd schools is P14.4 billion. The 2019 NEP, meanwhile, is P20.3 billion, thus the program is short of funds equivalent to P5.9 billion. “In view of this, the application for the SHS VP for SY 20192020 is yet to be opened pending the issuance of the FY 2019 GAA,� it added. However, Grade 10 completers
in SY 2018-2019 who fall under the following categories are automatically eligible and do not need to apply for vouchers: all Grade 10 completers in public schools operated by DepEd; all Grade 10 completers in state and local universities and colleges; and all Grade 10 completers in private schools who are ESC grantees. T h e s e a u t o m a t i c vo u c h e r recipients shall be accommodated in the program upon enrollment in any SHS VP-participating school.
Toyota-adopted public school goes digital TOYOTA Motor Philippines Foundation (TMPF), the social arm of the leading automotive company in the country, transformed its adopted school, Pulong Sta. Cruz Elementary School (PSCES) in Santa Rosa City, Laguna, into a “digital school� with the completion of its Computerization Project. The three-phase, school-wide
project is part of TMPF’s initiatives under the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Adopt-aSchool Program. It integrates information technology (IT) into the classroom set-up and the school’s teaching methodology, giving PSCES students the opportunity TO EXPERIENCE THE BENEkTS OF DIGITAL technology that would help them acquire the necessary knowledge
and skills. Toyota initiated the Computerization Project in August 2016, providing each of the 53 classrooms with a 55-inch Smart TV and a laptop computer to assist teachers in everyday teaching. Eleven colored printers were also provided to support production of more enticing and interactive teaching materials.
Q The library of the Pulong Sta. Cruz Elementary School goes digital with support from Toyota Motor Philippines Foundation CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Manulife expands financial literacy program MANULIFE Philippines partnered with Manulife Business Processing Services (MBPS) to expand their Peso 3MART kNANCIAL LITERACY PROGRAM FOR school year 2018-2019, reaching out TO GRADE SCHOOL STUDENTS FROM kVE public schools. Peso Smart is a series of financial literacy classes co-developed by Manulife Philippines and Hands on Manila (HOM) to teach public school students the basics of saving, budgeting and investing. On its second year, it reached elementary students from Kamuning and Bagong Silangan elementary schools in Quezon City, Mandaluyong Addition Hills and Nueve de Febrero elementary schools in Mandaluyong, and Pembo Elementary School in Makati. Manulife employees contributed a total of 1,200 volunteer hours to the program. They and MBPS employees served as weekly mentors. &OR THEIR kNAL PROJECT THE STUDENTS CREATED A kNANCIAL PLAN FOR THEIR FAMily where they applied what they have learned during the school year. “We’ve gotten positive feedback from the kids, their parents, and even the teachers who were part of this year’s Peso Smart Program. It made the students more aware of how to MANAGE THEIR kNANCES "Y TEACHING
them these skills at a young age, they will be able to make well-informed financial decisions that will help them live better lives in the future,� said Ryan Charland, president and chief executive officer of Manulife Philippines. MBPS head Bob Buiaroski added: “We’re happy to be part of the Peso Smart program and to empower STUDENTS TO BECOME kNANCIALLY SAVVY at a young age. The Manulife team is in full force in helping the students and their families better manage their kNANCES u The Peso Smart program is the kRST kNANCIAL LITERACY MODULE THAT was implemented under volunteer organization HOM’s Galing Mo Kid education program. “The Peso Smart program created a ripple effect that spread in the students’ communities. The students were able to pass on their learnings to their parents and other elders, MANY OF WHOM DID NOT LEARN kNANcial literacy skills when they were YOUNGER 0ESO 3MART IS A kNANCIAL education curriculum that helps the whole community in managing THEIR kNANCES BETTER AND AT THE SAME time strengthens the value of service and volunteerism among Manulife’s employees,� said Gianna Montinola, HOM president.
The second phase focused on internet connectivity. IT infrastructure was set up in 2017 to connect THE CLASSROOMS AND OFkCES TO THE internet. Through Wi-Fi connection, each classroom gained access to useful and appropriate educational resources available online, such as step-by-step exercises and student engagement activities. Teachers are also given exclusive internet access, so they can download multimedia content to enhance their teaching methodology. For the third phase of the project, Toyota provided a content-oriented teaching and learning environment. This means that teachers can access a ready source of appropriate e-learning modules for practice exercises and interactive tutorials in one online portal. The school’s library was also equipped with six all-in-one computers. As a result of consultation with teachers, Toyota also provided educational manipulatives, Lego robotic kits, as well as mastery kits, to enhance the
Q A Grade 4 student learns robotics programming at the Pulong Sta. Cruz Elementary School multimedia library, part of Toyota Motor Philippines Foundation’s Computerization Project in the public school. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO students’ aptitude in reading and comprehension, mathematics, and science. Toyota has, so far, invested a total of P10.88 million for the Computerization Project. It will continue to assist the teachers through IT skills trainings in the future.
PSCES is located in Toyota’s immediate community in Santa Rosa City, Laguna, and has been Toyota’s adopted school for almost two decades. As the city progresses, Toyota sees the student population to continuously grow. Currently, PSCES has over 3,000 students from Kinder to Grade 6.
University in La Union inspires government scholarsÂ
SOME 1,694 college scholars were inspired to excel more in their studies during the recently held forum at the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University campus in Bacnotan town in La Union. The scholars participated in the orientation forum at the university’s Ortega Memorial Center. All were grantees of the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) program, receiving P20,000 stipend per semester. Alexis Moira Dolores, coordinator for
Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education-Ilocos Region, encouraged the students to continue their studies and to aim for a degree as she discussed the TES program guidelines. “You need to be selfish and focus on yourself; be greedy of good grades and be rude enough to say no to temptation. You don’t have to be the best; you don’t have to deliver the most, but the chal-
lenge is to pass all your subjects to earn a college degree,� Dolores said. She said the TES program aimed to increase the stipend or allowance to government scholars especially those who come from the poorest of the poor families. To benefit from the TES program, she said the state university or school should apply, transfer the lists of applicants to the Commission on Higher Education, which will evaluate the applicants if they meet
the requirement, and inform the applicants of the official list of the grantees. Created under Republic Act 10931, an act promoting universal access to quality tertiary education, the TES program provides free tuition and other school fees in state universities and colleges, local government universities and colleges, and state-run technical-vocational institutions. LEANDER C. DOMINGO
Mastercard partners with UN to feed school children in Mindanao STUDIES show that it is difficult for children to learn without adequate food and nutrition, so by being provided daily meals at school, they are able to stay in the classroom and focus on their studies instead of their stomachs. Mastercard, in partnership with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), is thus providing 40,000 nutritious school meals to CHILDREN IN THE CONlICT AFFECTED areas of Central Mindanao. Mats Persson, WFP deputy director, received the donation from -ASTERCARD !SIA 0ACIkC #O PRESident Ari Sarker and Mastercard Country Manager in the Philippines Rowell Del Fierro. Since 2012, Mastercard and the
WFP have been working together to deliver innovative solutions to help create a world with Zero Hunger. The partnership connects Mastercard’s expertise in technology and payment systems with WFP’s work in delivering food assistance. Mastercard has been supporting programs for Syrian refugees, disaster victims in Sri Lanka, schoolchildren in Rwanda, among many other such initiatives around the globe. In the Philippines, WFP is targeting parts of the Mindanao REGION AFFECTED BY ARMED CONlICT WFP reports that 40 percent of families in Mindanao have been displaced between 2000 and 2010 because of ongoing conflict in the area.
Q World Food Program’s Anthony Chase Lim and Deputy Director Mats Persson received the donation from Mastercard Country Manager in the Philippines Rowell Del Fierro and Mastercard Asia Pacific Co-president Ari Sarker. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
NAPSPhil all set for general assembly
Q Graduates of the Manulife Peso Smart Program School Year 2018-2019 from Pembo, Mandaluyong Addition Hills and Nueve de Febrero Elementary Schools with (center, from left to right) Hands On Manila Foundation (HOM) Executive Director Dondon Marquez, Manulife Philippines Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Henson, HOM President Gianna Montinola, Manulife Vice President and Project Management lead Lem Dingle, and Communications and Corporate Affairs head Rosalie Acupan. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
THE National Alliance of Private Schools Philippines (NAPSPhil) is all set for its General Assembly on April 13, 2019 at the Lyceum of the Philippines University-Laguna. The general assembly aims to raise issues regarding the rights of teachers, including the disparity of salary between private and public school teachers and massive migration of private school teachers to public school despite having an existing contract. It also aims to discuss the control of the Department of Education (DepEd) over the private institutions instead of supervision, inconsistent implementation of national or regional DepEd orders or memos, and the creation of the Bureau of Private Education of DepEd that will oversee the need of the private schools.
NAPSPhil recognizes the need to prioritize the BUDGET FOR EDUCATION FOR THE BENEkT OF TEACHERS IN the Philippines with the help of the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers for Private Education Law (Gastpe). Some provisions, especially the Teacher’s Salary Subsidy Fund, however, are not being upheld, according to NAPSPhil. As such, with the upcoming increase of salaries for teachers in public schools, teachers from private schools are expected to shift to the public school system. Invited to speak, among others, are private schools advocate Atty. Joseph Noel Estrada and reelectionist Sen. Paolo “Bam� Aquino 4th who kLED AND SPONSORED 3ENATE "ILL 3" OR THE “Teachers Compensation and Support act of 2018.�
SB 2057 aims to enhance the compensation support system for all teachers in basic education institutions as well as creating an assistance fund for teachers. Also expected to attend the general assembly are Taguig City Mayor Maria Laarni Cayetano, who provides a budget for the “local Educational Service Contraction� program in her municipality through DepEd’s Gastpe program; Senate candidates Luther Meniano, who is pushing for a House bill that will create a Private School’s Commission, and Appropriating Funds that will be included in all levels of education, and former Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile, who has supported the salary increase for private school teachers; and National Executive Director of the Private Education Assistance Committee Prof. Rhodara Angela Ferrer.