Ghostbuster needed to solve case of 19,000 ‘ghost’ students

LAST week, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian revealed what had been whispered around in some circles: the presence of “ghost” or undocumented students. He said there were 19,000 such students in private schools. They were supposedly enrolled through a state voucher program that has cost the government P7 billion so far.

P7 billion is not a small amount to sneeze at in a Department of Education that is perennially short of funds. Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Basic Education, said this should be investigated. The government has been allocating billions of pesos for the vouchers intended for senior high school students. And now it appears much of that money has gone to waste, or worse, been stolen.

Last year, the government spent P52 billion on the Expanded Government Assistance for Students and Teachers in Private Education (E-Gastpe) program. The allocation for this year stood at P40.5 billion.

In February of this year, the Department of Education reported that the utilization rate of its 2024 budget for E-Gatspe was 97 percent. This is the government’s largest private school scholarship program. The DepEd said it did well on the expansion of the existing Educational Service Contracting (ESC) scheme.

However, during the hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Rodrik Edsel Malonzo, the DepEd monitoring and processing officer of the Private Education Assistance Committee (PAEC), agreed with the figure given by Senator Gatchalian for the number of ghost students.

Malonzo said the government has not been wanting in this regard. It has been trying to recover P239 million from various private schools. One example of this is St. Joseph School in Candaba, Pampanga, where there are supposedly 4,600 voucher program beneficiaries (VPBs).

The students did not have records like attendance in classes, so they were considered “undocumented students,” Malonzo said. The school said they would explain their undocumented students, but they were pressed to return P80 million.

Senator Gatchalian noted a pattern or “modus of very enterprising people,” saying that some private schools must be making money from the voucher program.

He said one school in Metro Manila was found to have 3,111 undocumented students. Senator Gatchalian did not name the private school, but the government has asked it to refund P82.9 million.

The Commission on Audit (CoA) has also stepped into the issue. CoA official Imelda Celso said that based on their investigation, from 2016-2017, there were 115 senior high school voucher beneficiaries who were considered ghost students. But she also admitted that there might be errors in their listing and vowed to scrutinize more cases to arrive at a correct and updated figure.

How do we avoid “ghost” students in this program?

Stringent audit

We can implement stringent documentation requirements for students to qualify for the voucher program. This can include birth certificates, school records, and other official documents verifying students’ identity and eligibility.

A thorough verification process can also be done to ensure that enrolled students actually exist and are attending school. This could involve cross-referencing student information with official records and conducting spot checks at the schools.

Biometric identification systems can also be implemented. These include fingerprint scans to accurately verify the identity of students during enrolment and attendance tracking. This can help prevent identity fraud and unauthorized use of vouchers.

A regular audit can also be done on participating schools and students to verify enrolment and attendance records, disbursement procedures, monitoring mechanisms and reporting requirements. This can help identify discrepancies or irregularities that may indicate ghost students or fraudulent activities.

Moreover, we can maintain transparency by regularly publishing reports on enrollment, attendance, and use of funds. Accountability mechanisms can help deter fraudulent activities and build trust.

Feedback mechanisms for students, parents, and other stakeholders can also be used to report any concerns or irregularities. This should be addressed promptly to protect the program’s integrity.

One way to do an audit is to assess the effectiveness of the voucher program in achieving its objectives. This may involve analyzing academic performance data, graduation rate, student outcomes, and feedback from stakeholders.

The voucher program is a laudable project to educate our high school students. It should be protected from dirty hands that want to destroy it.