The Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) called for the expansion of the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) to include Kindergarten to Grade 6 levels.
PEAC member and concurrent Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU) president Bern Villamor said GASTPE continues to address overcrowding in public schools by enabling private schools to absorb excess students or “aisle learners.”
GASTPE is currently limited to Junior and Senior High Schools.
Due to GASTPE’s success, private schools expressed their support to extend the program’s financial assistance to more deserving students, who hope to pursue elementary education in private schools.
“Expanding GASTPE to the elementary level (K-6) will improve educational access, raise quality standards, and save government funds by utilizing the spare capacity of private schools. This would also reduce the pressure on the Department of Education (DepEd) to rapidly build new schools,” Villamor said.
Villamor added GASTPE programs like the Education Service Contracting, Teachers’ Salary Subsidy, Senior High School Voucher Program, and In-Service Training are pivotal in providing financial assistance to students and enhancing access to quality education.
A PEAC-commissioned study on “The Absorptive Capacity of Basic Education in the Philippines” covering nearly 28 million learners in school years 2018-2022 revealed that public schools are severely overcrowded, especially at higher grade levels.
PEAC also urged the government to increase the amount of subsidies to GASTPE beneficiaries for Junior and Senior High Schools.
Villamor said the current GASTPE subsidies fail to cover the full fees private schools charge, which necessitates the families of beneficiaries to pay top-ups, particularly in urban areas.
“By reallocating and optimizing resources, we estimate that nearly 900,000 more learners could be accommodated across both public and private schools,” Villamor said.
