By Mike Crismundo Regional Director Dominga D. Mallonga of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said a total of 206 passers from Caraga region are qualified as the agency’s scholars for School Year 2018-2019. DOST via Manila Bulletin These new scholars will receive monthly stipend of P7,000, the region’s DOST 13 chief told The Manila Bulletin on Friday. The scholars are also entitled to tuition fee subsidy; book allowance; MS/PE clothing allowance; one economy-class round-trip fare per year for those studying outside of their home province; and group accident insurance, she said. Thousands of aspiring scientists and engineers will enter colleges with DOST-Science Education Institute (SEI) scholarship stamp, for its Republic Act 7687 Scholarship program, she said. The country’s premier science scholarship program, back after a two-year hiatus due to the implementation of the K-12 Curriculum, announced 8,994 new qualifiers (nationwide) for its RA 7687 and Merit Scholarship programs. Out of the total number of passers, 5,172 are qualified as scholars under the RA 7687 Scholarship Program -- scholarships for gifted students who belong to economically disadvantaged families, while 3,822 passed under the DOST-SEI Merit Scholarship Program. It is a record-breaking year for DOST-SEI as the number of qualified students reached the highest mark since the start of scholarship program in 1958, surpassing 2015’s 5,303 qualifiers by 69.60 percent. The 2018 DOST-SEI Scholarships Examination, which was held on October 15, 2017 in 216 test centers nationwide, recorded the highest number of examinees with 46,434 students. Municipalities and congressional districts covered by the DOST-SEI Scholarship Program also increased from 1,568 in 2015 to 1,609 this year representing 97 percent of the country's total number of municipalities and congressional districts.