DepEd: More than 370k students get govt subsidy this year

More than 370,000 Grade 7 students received government subsidies this school year under the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) program, the Department of Education said last Thursday. The DepEd said 377,227 incoming Grade 7 students wishing to continue their secondary education got slots in private schools this School Year (2012-2013) – 98 percent more than the 190,536 in S.Y. 2011-12. “We allotted more slots for Grade 7 (First Year High School) students to give more students a chance to enter high school and finish their basic education,” DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro said. GASTPE subsidizes the tuition of students who enroll in private high schools in lieu of public high schools that can no longer accommodate them. The DepEd also increased the grant for students, from P5,500 to P6,500 for First Year Education Service Contracting (ESC) grantees outside Metro Manila starting this school year. Under DepEd Memo 94, the increase in the number of slots was based on need, given the normal carrying capacity of public secondary schools. For Luzon, the slots increased from 101,520 last year to 223,781 this year; from 39,035 last year to 74,106 slots this year for Visayas; and from 49,981 to 79,341 slots in Mindanao for this school year. GASTPE's Regional Program Committee is responsible for the distribution of the Grade 7 ESC slots in each participating school on the basis of need and on the school’s demonstrated capacity to utilize slots previously allotted to them. However, Luistro said a report on the distribution and utilization of the ESC slots must be forwarded to the DepEd Central Office on or before June 30 this year. — LBG, GM News