THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) urged Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) beneficiaries, students who are eligible for college, to look into government scholarship programs to ensure their continued education.
4Ps Social Marketing Division Chief (DC) Marie Grace Ponce said 4PS does not have specific scholarship programs but the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) have programs like the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) and the skills training programs, respectively.
She said 275,881 college students have already benefited from CHED’s UniFAST which provides either the full or partial cost of tertiary education of students from low-income households studying in state universities and colleges (SUCs), CHED-recognized local universities and colleges (LUCs), and private higher education institutions (HEIs).
She said TESDA provides short-term and long-term skills development or skills enhancement training.
The education grant under 4Ps ranges from P350 to P800 per child per month and only covers daycare to senior high schools.
The 4Ps, which was launched in 2008 and institutionalized through Republic Act (RA) 11310 in 2019, is a national poverty reduction strategy and human capital investment program of the government. It provides conditional cash transfers to poor households for a maximum period of seven years to improve their children’s health, nutrition, and education.
At least 4.4 million poor families benefit from the program annually.
