Recto wants more time for tutors’ applications

Sen. Ralph Recto. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Teachers displaced by the K-12 basic education program should be given more time to apply for the government-funded scholarship program for higher education degrees, Sen. Ralph Recto said Saturday.

Recto called on the Commission on Higher Education to extend by two weeks, or up to April 15, the April 1 deadline for application to the “Graduate Education Scholarships for Faculty and Staff Development in the K to 12 Transition Period.”

The program provides free tuition to faculty members and staff who will go for master’s and doctoral degrees, with stipends of P20,000 to P28,000 a month depending on the degree.

Scholarships in selected foreign schools are also available, as well as grants for thesis and dissertation writing, professional advancement and post-doctoral fellowships.

The government scholarship is mainly for private college teachers who stand to lose or lower their incomes during the transition period for the K-12 program.

The Philippine Institute for Development Studies had projected that 33,000 college instructors may be idled until 2018. Leila B. Salaverria