Additional 84 college students in NorMin to benefit from DSWD scholarship grants

PROPOSED: 84 NorMin college students to get DSWD scholarships

Tuesday 24th of July 2012

EDITED:

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, July 24 (PIA) -- The Student Grants-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (SGPPA) of Pantawid Pamilya will have an additional 84 scholars in Northern Mindana.

At present, there are 264 college education scholars, said Cherrylou Acobo, Pantawid Pamilya coordination and partnership development officer. The region targets to accommodate 348 scholars.

“So far, we only hit 76 percent of the target that is why we have to fill up the remaining 24 percent of the slots allotted for the region,” said Acobo.

The additional slots will be given to beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilya identified by the Institutional Partnership Division (IPD) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Acobo said that Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries need not apply for the scholarship grant because identification is done in DSWD central office.

Lawyer Araceli F. Solamillo, regional director of DSWD Field Office-10, said that DSWD, Commission on Higher Education, state universities and colleges, and the Department of Labor and Employment joined together for the scholarship program for the underprivileged.

She said the program is piloted in Pantawid Pamilya areas to put into action the 1986 Philippine Constitution, which provided for the protection and promotion of the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels, and to take appropriate steps to make such education accessible.

Solamillo added that the program is a long-term commitment to break the cycle of poverty brought about by illiteracy and under-education, one of the objectives of DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilya.

Chosen scholars shall only enroll in a state college or state university within the region identified by the IPD.

As such, they can only enroll in Mindanao University of Science and Technology (MUST) Cagayan de Oro Campus, Central Mindanao University in Maramag, Bukidnon and MUST-Oroquieta and MUST-Panaon, both in Misamis Occidental. (Oliver Badel Inodeo, DSWD-X/APB, PIA-10)