Free ride for Guimaras studes to boost enrollment
Around 11,000 high school students in the island-province of Guimaras are literally getting a free ride to school under a transportation subsidy program launched last week.
The "Sakay Eskwela" program initiated by Guimaras Rep. JC Rahman Nava aims to boost the enrollment and completion of high school students in the province which have suffered a decline from school year 2004 to 2007.
The program estimated to cost from P18 million to P20 million annually will be funded from Nava's Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and coursed through the provincial government.
Under the program which started last August 28, all high school students including those in private schools receive a one-way fare subsidy from their residence to their school. The subsidy ranges from P5 to P20 per student daily from Monday to Friday.
The subsidy will cover students in 17 public high schools in the five towns of the province. These include five in Buenavista, two in the capital town of Jordan, five in Nueva Valencia, three in Sibunag and two in San Lorenzo.
School principals hand out a coupon to each student before they go home everyday which they will use in going to school the next day, said lawyer John Edward Gando, Nava's chief of staff, in a telephone interview.
The coupons will be used to pay the transportation fare of the students. The drivers can encash the coupons at the provincial treasurer's office when it reaches at least P200.
Gando said the program was launched to help address the below standard performance level of high school students in the province.
Based on data from DepEd, secondary schools suffered a decline in enrollment from school year 2004 to 2007 despite a slight increase in school year 2007-2008.
Out of a projected total population of 16,044 belonging to the 12 to 15 year old range, more than half (8,664) are out of school or still in the elementary grades.
Participation rate of high school students in the province from 2004 t0 2007 was below the standard 77.73 percent. The completion rate was also below the standard 69.32 percent.
The low participation and completion rates in secondary schools in the province could be attributed to poverty because aside from school fees, parents have to spend for school uniforms, supplies, projects, allowances and transportation fees.
Elementary and high school students were among the worst affected by the massive August 2006 Petron oil spill which dislocated thousands of families who were left without livelihood for several months.
Many children also suffered diseases due to inhalation of the fumes after the MT Solar I sank on August 11 spilling around 2.1 million liters of bunker fuel.
A rapid assessment report released a few months after the oil spill by the provincial government noted the increasing incidence of absences, cutting of school allowance of children and illnesses associated with the oil spill.
School attendance in August significantly dropped in schools in Nueva Valencia except in San Lorenzo National High School. School attendance in Cabalagnan National High School, situated in the village hardest hit by the oil spill, was the lowest at 86 percent, the report said.
Attendance in public elementary schools in islets also dropped in August. Panobolon Multi-Grade School had the least attendance with 73 percent.
The report noted that more female students were absent (10 percent) than male students (6 percent) in Cabalagnan National High School.
The assessment team attributed the decrease in attendance to students working in the clean up operations and those tasked by parents to take care of younger siblings while their parents work in the cleanup.
The absences could also be a result of the lack of allowance for transportation and food because of a drop in income of the fisherfolk. Children also suffered ailments, which may be related to the oil spill, forcing them to miss classes.