Recipients of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) scholarship grants are now young professionals.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) identified them as Justine Wendell Navarez, a civil engineer and Angelika Marie Fundal, who is a licensed teacher.
According to DoLE, Navarez of Digos City, Davao del Sur availed of the Education for Development Scholarship Program (EDSP) in 2011.
After passing the Civil Engineering Board Exam in 2017, Navarez worked as a part-time instructor at the Cor Jesu College of Engineering and is presently working as a Laboratory Engineer at Qualitest Solutions and Technologies, Inc. in Davao City.
Fundal, on the other hand, was an OFW Dependent Scholarship Program (ODSP) grantee who took up Bachelor of Secondary Education, Major in English at Capiz State University in 2013.
After passing the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET), Fundal was hired by the Department of Education as Teacher I at San Nicolas National High School in Tapaz, Capiz.
Armed with her passion for teaching and learning, she obtained her Master of Arts in Teaching Major in English at Filamer Christian University in June 2020 and was awarded Outstanding in Thesis Writing.
Currently, Fundal is pursuing a Doctor of Education major in English Language Teaching also at Filamer Christian University.
OWWA has been offering assistance through the EDSP and the ODSP.
The labor department said the EDSP is a scholarship grant amounting to P60,000 per school year to qualified dependents of active OWWA members who intend to pursue a four- or five-year baccalaureate course in any preferred college or university.
The ODSP, meanwhile, is an educational assistance amounting to P20,000 per school year to qualified dependents of active OWWA members whose salary is not more than $600.
To qualify in EDSP, the dependent-applicant must be single and not be more than 21 years old; must have an average grade of at least 80 percent and belongs to the upper 20 percent of the graduating class; and must belong to the top 400 passers in the qualifying examination conducted by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Meanwhile, eligible to apply in ODSP are children of active OWWA members or siblings of unmarried OWWA members who are single and are not more than 21 years old for incoming freshmen and not more than 30 years old for those who are already enrolled in college.
They must also pass the entrance examination conducted by the state college or university in the OWWA Regional Welfare Office where the applicant intends to enrol.