MANILA: The Department of Education (DepEd) will provide tuition subsidy to over 350,000 incoming Grade 7 students who wish to continue their secondary education in private schools this school year.
Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the number of slots for the DepEd’s Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) programme has increased from 257,365 in school year 2013-2014 to 352,328 this school year.
The GASTPE programme, which is being provided through an Education Service Contracting (ESC) scheme, is one of the government’s strategies to decongest public secondary schools. The ESC grants cover four years of junior high school, from Grades 7 to 10.
The amount of subsidy for Grade 7 students in regions outside the National Capital Region (NCR) is 6,500 pesos per grantee for an entire school year subject to adjustments approved by the State Assistance Council (SAC).
For Grade 8 to 9 ESC grantees, they will receive P6,500 and for Grade 10, the amount of subsidy is 5,500 pesos per student. For student grantees in the NCR, the subsidy is 10,000 pesos per school year.
“The higher subsidy is in recognition of the fact that private school tuition and all other fees are much higher in NCR than in the rest of the country,” Luistro said.
The Philippine Star
