Grade 10 students reminded of deadline

STUDENTS wishing to avail themselves of the senior high school voucher program have only until today (Monday)to submit their applications to the Department of Education (DepEd).

Under the voucher program, those completing Grade 10 who would like to pursue senior high school (SHS) in a private high school, college or university may receive up to P22,500 toward a private education.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said tenth-graders from the public schools and private school students who are in the DepEd’s Education Service Contracting (ESC) program need not apply to the program since they are automatic voucher beneficiaries.

Private school students who are not ESC grantees may avail themselves of the vouchers following an assessment of their socioeconomic status. Students will be informed in March if they qualified for the voucher program.

Qualified students will receive 80 percent of the voucher’s value. The vouchers from the DepEd would depend on a student’s location and range from P8,750 to P22,500.

The DepEd said the voucher program is a “support mechanism to ease the financial load of parents who send their children to SHS,” which rolls out in the coming school year as part of the Aquino administration’s K-12 education reform program. Jovic Yee