About 33,000 children of Filipino workers abroad will each receive P30,000 so they can enroll in colleges and universities this school year, President Rodrigo Duterte said Monday.
He made the announcement in Malacañang, saying the project will be allotted P1 billion to benefit the 33,000 students.
The subsidy will be given to a college-level beneficiary who is enrolled or is intending to enroll in a state university or college, or CHED-recognized private higher education institutions in school year 2020.
“Because of the effect of COVID on the education of our children, we must help them. This is a tertiary education subsidy for the dependents of displaced non-returning repatriated or deceased [workers] due to COVID-19,” Duterte said.
He says the subsidy is a project of the Commission on Higher Education or CHED and the United Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education or UniFAST, in collaboration with the Labor department.
Earlier, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said 343,551 Filipino workers abroad had already been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Either they were displaced because of COVID-19 or the virus infected them,” Bello said.
“Of the total number, 341,161 were displaced, which means they were either terminated from their jobs and no longer employed, or they could not go to work because of the lockdown, hence no work no pay.”
Meanwhile, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said at least 23.9 million learners had enlisted for the coming school year, and had already reached 80 percent of last year’s enrollment because of COVID 19 and the economic downturn.
“Our Original target was 80 percent of last year’s enrollment, but we have already reached 86.8 percent and that is good,” Briones said.
Her department is now preparing the self-learning modules for all subjects and grade levels for the school year that opens on Oct. 5.