Good news to the creme de la creme of the public high schools. Senate OKs Iskolar ng Bayan Act August 1, 2014 The Senate has approved on third and final reading Senate Bill No. 2275, a measure which will grant automatic college admission and scholarship to top 10 graduating public high school students at state universities and colleges (SUCs). The measure, also known as the “Iskolar ng Bayan Act of 2014″ was authored by Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter S. Cayetano and was sponsored by Senator Pia Cayetano, chairperson of the Senate education, culture and arts committee. A similar bill, authored by Taguig Rep. Lino Cayetano, has been filed at the House of Representatives. Senate President Franklin Drilon lauded the passage of the measure, saying that such initiatives could help address the challenge of providing complete and quality education for the Filipino youth. “Binilisan natin ang pagpasa nito, upang sa susunod na pasukan ay maging ganap na batas ito at mapakinabangan ng ating mga kabataan. Sa batas na ito, kahit mahirap ka basta magaling ka, ikaw ay may laban na makapasok nang lbre sa mga state universities and colleges [We fast-tracked the passage of this measure so that in the next school year, our youth can take advantage of this scheme. Under this measure, even if you are poor but you are bright, you have the right to enroll for free education at SUCs],’’ Drilon said. Senator Pia Cayetano explained that the top 10 public school students of their graduating class would be accorded automatic admission to SUCs of their choice within their provinces or nearby provinces, depending on the size of he SUCs and their course offerings. However, she said that the state-owned University of the Philippines (UP) is excluded from the list of SUCs because of its institutional autonomy unless UP would come up with its own scholarship program for the top 10 public high school graduates. “The Iskolar ng Bayan Program provides a big incentive for high school students to work hard and excel in their academics in order to rank within the top 10 of their graduating class and be afforded the benefits of this measure… Poverty and lack of opportunities will not hinder the creme de la creme of our public high school system from pursuing higher education,” she said. Once the measure is enacted into law, the scholars would be provided with free tuition fees, textbook allowance and a monthly living allowance. (Mario Casayuran) mb.ph/senate-oks-iskolar-ng-bayan-act/
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 13:15:35 +0000
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