ANGARA CALLS FOR A REVIEW OF GOV'T SCHOLARSHIPS

Senator Edgardo J. Angara called for a review of the various scholarship programs funded by the government through the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in order to assess their status, as well as their needs for the coming academic year.

Presiding over yesterday's Senate Committee Finance hearing on the 2011 budget of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Angara asked if there was enough state funding for scholarships.

According to CHED, 2.7 million students make up the total population of the Philippine higher education system.

"Of that 2.7 million, how many is the state supporting? What are the demographics of the recipients of government aid? We must make sure that we are providing enough aid for the most underprivileged in our country's youth population," said Angara.

Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Education, suggested the creation of a separate division to keep track of all the government's educational programs.

"Perhaps we could set up dedicated department for student scholarships, loans, grants and other forms of financial assistance, tasked with regulating and accounting the educational funds that go in and out of these agencies," he said.

Angara, vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, asked the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Department of Education (DepEd), and other agencies with educational programs to provide a breakdown of their expenses.

"We should compare the per-student cost of the scholars from different bodies so that we get a grasp of much the state is really spending. It looks as though the number of post-graduate enrollees have been gradually increasing, so they would surely benefit from the streamlining of their funds," he explained.

"We must also monitor the number of graduates from these post-graduate programs and science schools and how many go abroad to work, since we seem to be losing our young, brilliant minds to the lure of the Ivy Leagues," Angara said, in response to the report that about 5% of the state-funded science high school graduates go abroad to work or study further.