As face-to-face classes are set to resume this school year 2022-2023, the Pasig City local government aims to further expand its scholarship program and services for both public and private schools.
During the flag-raising ceremony on Monday, Aug. 8, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto bared the local government's plans to increase the number of scholars in the city as well as in helping private schools survive during the pandemic.
Around 3,000 more students passed the application process for the Pasig City Scholarship Program (PCSP), increasing the total number of scholars from 20,000 to 23,000 for School Year 2022 - 2023.
"Hindi po bababa ang bilang . Every school year, hangga't nandito tayo, tataas ng tataas ang bilang dahil nakikita natin na marami pang deserving, nangangailangan, at kuwalipikado na kailangan natin bigyan ng scholarship (The number of scholars will not decrease. Every school year, it will keep increasing because we see that there are many more deserving, in-need, and qualified for the scholarship)," Sotto said.
The local government aimed to reach 25,000 scholars by next school year.
He noted that there were 12,000 to 13,000 scholars of the program in 2019.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the city government accepted 16,000 scholars.
The number of scholars rose to 20,000 amid the pandemic in 2020 to 2022.
He noted that there are no "politics" involved in the admission process of scholarship applicants.
The city follows the guidelines -- the income bracket, and the grading system -- in accepting scholars.
Due to the reduced enrollment rate in private schools during the pandemic, the local government also extended its scholarship program to private school students.
"Hindi naman porket nasa private school ay mayaman. Mayroon rin pong nangangailangan na nagaaral sa private school (Not all those enrolled in private schools are rich. There are also students in need who study there)," Sotto said.
"Kapag nahirapan ang private school at nagsara 'yung mga maliliit na private school, sa public school din po ang bagsak nito. Alam naman po natin napupuno din ang mga classroom sa ating public school (When the small private schools in our city struggle and eventually close, their students will end up in public schools. We know that our public schools, the classrooms cannot accommodate them)," he added.
Currently, there are around 2,000 scholars in private schools.
Sotto said the local government will continue supporting private schools in 2023 with the guidelines to be finalized soon.
The mayor added that more work needs to be done, particularly on the streamlining and digitalization of processes and systems for this semester to next year.
As the scholars increase every school year, the technology needs to be upgraded to prevent human errors in the records, he said.
The Pasig City Scholarship Office (PCSO) announced that the PCSP is accepting new applicants for Grades 4 to 6, 7 to 10, and 11 to 12). The application is open from Aug. 12 to 25.
For students who are not yet enrolled this school year or who have not yet received their grading records from the previous school year, a second batch of applications will open in September.