High school voucher program ends April 27

THE Department of Education (DepEd) said it will accept applications for the Senior High School Voucher Program (SHS VP) until April 27, 2018.

The voucher program, which was re-opened on April 2, is one of the several initiatives of the government to make basic education accessible and affordable for Filipino learners nationwide.

The program was reopened upon the recommendation of Undersecretaries Jesus Mateo and Victoria Catibog to accommodate a greater number of Grade 10 completers for school year 2018-2019 and to provide them with the option to enroll in private schools, state universities and colleges (SUCs), and local universities and colleges (LUCs) including technical and vocational schools offering the SHS Program.

Applications must be accomplished online by accessing the Private Education Assistance Committee’s Online Voucher Application Program at http://ovap.deped.gov.ph.

Applicants are advised to refer to DepEd Order 60, s. 2017, or “Guidelines on the Application for the Senior High School Voucher Program for School Year 2018-2019.”

Concerns on the Educational Service Contracting (ESC) and the SHS Voucher Program shall be directed to gastpe@deped.gov.ph.

High fees

Last week, the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) on Thursday stormed the national office of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to protest the impending increases of tuition and other school fees in private higher education institutions (HEIs).

“Despite the passage of Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, commercialization of education remains as state policy. Private HEIs still have the power to annually increase TOSF while CHEd still acts as a stamp pad of these fees hikes. In fact, in Metro Manila alone, 78 private HEIs intend to increase tuition and other school fees,” NUSP national spokesperson Mark Vincent Lim said.

“Aside from its contentious provisions, the “free education” law is a mere palliative reform especially because the higher education system remains dominated by the private sector, with 1,710 (89 percent) private HEIs and only 112 state and 107 local universities and colleges. Close to 55 percent of tertiary-level undergraduates are enrolled in profit-oriented private HEIs where they suffer high tuition rates, burdensome fees, and annual increases,” Lim said.