For fiscal year 2025, government subsidy programs for private schools will prioritize the poorest learners in the selection of beneficiaries, Senator Win Gatchalian assured.
The 2025 national budget carried Gatchalian’s proposed amendments to the special provision on Government Assistance and Subsidies under the Department of Education (DepEd) budget. Under the special provision, learners from low-income households will be prioritized in the Senior High School Voucher Program (SHS-VP) and the Educational Service Contracting (ESC) Program. It also specifies that learners from congested public schools will be given priority in the ESC.
Under the ESC program, the government shoulders the tuition and other fees of excess students in overcrowded junior public high schools who enter private schools contracted by the DepEd. Under the SHS-VP, qualified SHS learners from participating private and non-DepEd schools receive subsidies in the form of vouchers.
For fiscal year 2025, P12.077 billion will be allotted for the ESC while P27.024 billion will be allocated for the SHS-VP.
Last year, Gatchalian flagged that 68% of ESC recipients for School Year (SY) 2020-2021 were from non-poor households or those with incomes above or equal to the per capita threshold. Fifty-nine percent of ESC recipients from SY 2019-2020 were from non-poor households.
Based on higher-end estimates by the office of the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, the leakage from the ESC program amounts to P8.6 billion. The findings were derived from an analysis conducted by the senator’s office using data from the 2020 and 2022 Annual Poverty Indicators Surveys (APIS).
Using the same data from the 2020 and 2022 APIS, Gatchalian’s office also found that 70% of SHS-VP beneficiaries for SY 2020-2021 were from non-poor households. During that school year, P7.21 billion or 53% of the P13.69 billion allocated for the SHS-VP was directed to these non-poor learners. For SY 2019-2020, 64% of SHS-VP beneficiaries were from non-poor households. During that year, P7.30 billion or 39% of the P18.76 billion allocated for the SHS-VP went to non-poor learners.
