P7-B SHS VOUCHER PROGRAM FUNDS SPENT ON NON-POOR BENEFICIARIES — GATCHALIAN

THE government spent more than P7 billion on non-poor beneficiaries of the senior high school voucher program (SHS-VP), Senator Win Gatchalian flagged.

The SHS-VP is a program of financial assistance, where qualified SHS learners from participating private and non-Department of Education (DepEd) schools receive subsidies in the form of vouchers.

The chairperson of the Senate Committee on Basic Education shared this observation during a hearing on the implementation of Republic Act No. 8545 or the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (E-GASTPE) Act.

Citing estimates from his office, Gatchalian pointed out that for School Year (SY) 2021-2022, P7.21 billion or 53% of the P13.69 billion allocation for the SHS-VP went to non-poor learners.

For School Year 2019-2020, P7.30 billion or 39% of the P18.76 billion allocation for the SHS-VP went to non-poor learners.

Citing data from the Annual Poverty Indicators Survey 2020 and 2022, Gatchalian also pointed out that for SY 2021-2022, 70% of SHS-VP beneficiaries were from non-poor households.

For SY 2019-2020, 64% of SHS-VP beneficiaries were from non-poor households, Gatchalian added.

“For me, it’s wastage and leakage. We need to correct this immediately and I plan to raise this during our budget hearing because we have to make sure that every centavo allocated to the government goes to our poor learners and efficient projects and programs. For me, based on the data that we have seen, it shows that we’re not being efficient,” said Gatchalian.

In a previous hearing, Gatchalian observed a similar trend in the implementation of the Educational Service Contracting (ESC) program, which is a component of GASTPE.

For School Year 2020-2021, 68% of ESC recipients were from non-poor households. This caused a leakage of up to P8.6 billion based on estimates from the senator’s office.

A 2018 Performance Audit Report by the Commission on Audit (COA) already raised that DepEd grants subsidies even to students from poor families.

In the same report, state auditors also recommended that DepEd prioritize underprivileged learners.

Attorney Tara Rama, Director III of the DepEd’s Government Assistance and Subsidies Office, assured the basic education panel that GASTPE’s guidelines will be revised to address issues, including the non-prioritization of underprivileged learners.