EVEN before incoming Mayor Belen Fernandez assumes her post on July 1, the Sangguniang Panlungsod passed an ordinance adopting a Revised Comprehensive Dagupan City Government Scholarship and Educational Assistance Program to benefit students from poor families, including those who are at risk of dropping out, out-of-school youth who are not beneficiaries of or do not qualify under the regular scholarship programs but  with  meritorious academic records.

Authored by Councilors Netu Tamayo, chair of the city council’s committee on education, Michael Fernandez and Luis Samson Jr., the ordinance will deliver the campaign promise of incoming Mayor Fernandez to democratize the scholarship program by adopting a more comprehensive approach to enable a greater number  of Dagupan youth to get the chance to complete college education without discriminating those with an average academic performance.

The measure was adopted by the SP after conducting a public hearing participated in by  students who admitted not being able to avail of the scholarship program despite two series of examinations given them,  which they believed they had passed, but were excluded simply because their parents were not  politically allied with the Lim administration.

The students were joined by deans of universities of Dagupan City like the University of Luzon, Lyceum  Northwester University, Unibersidad de Dagupan and University of Pangasinan Phinma who all hailed the revised scholarship program of the city.

The students revealed  some of the questions asked in the examinations were totally irrelevant, i.e., “Who is Dagupan’s father of the Bangus Festival,” “How many rivers are there in the city,”  “What food is being eaten by the people on All Souls Day,”.

Councilor Fernandez said that in the revised scholarship program, all students from poor families who have no chance to go to college and are willing to finish their studies can avail of the scholarships regardless of political affiliations.

The allocation for the scholarship program is P200 million or 20 percent of the total budget of the city of Dagupan to benefit  one city scholar per household or family, Fernandez said.

Under the ordinance, the scholar must be a resident of Dagupan, a senior high school graduate or candidate for graduation; with earned units in college; and passed the Alternative Learning System (ALS)/Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT).

They must also pass the assessment,  valuation and interview by a panel of interviewer  and submitted the required documents;  their parents/guardians must have a combined gross income of P250,000 annually; must not be a graduate of any program; and must pass the admission and retention requirements of the school he/she intends to enroll/or enrolled. (Leonardo Micua)

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