The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) called on universities and colleges to provide numerical grades to students who are under its merit scholarship program for them to continue their education with benefits.
CHED Chairman J. Prospero De Vera III said the Commission had already written the Presidents of 17 higher education institutions (HEIs) who implemented a "pass all" policy, to give scholars and grantees numeric grades immediately.
De Vera said 424 students of these HEIs who are beneficiaries of the CHED Merit Scholarship Program (CMSP) will be affected by this policy who are on the verge of losing their scholarships or may need to stop schooling.
Unlike the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) and Tulong Dunong grants, CHED said the CMSP is awarded to students based purely on scholastic performance or grades in priority degree programs of the government.
The CMSP scholars are required to maintain a general weighted average (GWA) of at least 85% or its equivalent if they are a full scholar or 80% or its equivalent if a half scholar, the Commission explained.
"The problem was caused by HEIs who did a pass all policy in their second semester. I made it very clear in CHED announcements that while the grading system of HEIs are determined and exercised by individual HEIs in the exercise of their academic freedom, any decision to adopt a pass all policy must ensure that the interests of individual students are not compromised," De Vera said in a statement.
The higher education chief added that the Commission already reminded HEIs in June students who are under its merit scholarship program and need numeric grades will be severely affected by this policy.
"Applicants are ranked based on their Grade Point Average and those with the highest grades get the merit scholarship. If the HEIs will not give them numeric grades, what will be the basis to determine if the students will get financial assistance from the government?” he added.
With this, De Vera called out the following tertiary institutions that have CHED merit scholars and grantees but adopted a pass all policy:
• Saint Mary’s University
• Bataan Heroes Memorial College
• De La Salle University – Dasmariñas
• STI College Rosario
• University of the Philippines Los Baños
• Cavite State University
• Mary Help of Christians College-Salesians Sisters Inc.
• Ateneo de Naga University
• Partido College
• Pili Capital College, Inc.
• Bicol State College of Applied Sciences and Technology
• University of the Philippines-Visayas
• Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology
• Mindanao State University- Naawan
• Polytechnic University of the Philippines - Sta. Mesa, Manila
• University of Baguio
• Mindanao State University – Marawi
De Vera said these HEIs were given a deadline of until October 30 to provide the numerical grades for CMSP scholars for the regional offices to properly evaluate the students' GWA and determine their eligibility to continue in the program.