Young Roots
Institutionalizing scholarship programs
By Johanne Margarette R. Macob
SCHOLARSHIP programs are highly valuable for many in order to earn a diploma. I, too, was a beneficiary of a university’s scholarship program. My siblings, likewise, were scholars. I’m not really sure if all of us in the family would have been able to graduate were it not for the scholarship programs. This is why I can relate well to the testimonials of scholars when they talked about how thankful they are of the scholarship grants given to them, and of how life-changing it was for them. Indeed, scholarship programs are that vital to a lot of us.
However, there are also criticisms about some scholarship programs. These are largely about ‘favoritism’ or the unfair selection of scholars. Again, I, too, experienced being discriminated against and chosen for a scholarship program despite my excellent academic performance in high school and my family’s then socioeconomic status (my mother was the family’s lone breadwinner since my father died and most of my siblings already have their respective families). Fortunately, I was able to earn another. Anyway, this issue about unfair selection is backed up by various claims as shared with me by Councilor Jaymark Crisostomo of Lingayen. He said the problem with the town’s scholarship program, according to reports that reached him, is that only the chief executive has the sole power to choose who can be granted scholarship. The criteria for qualification are not clear, if there are, these are not followed. Thus, the scholarships are distributed not necessarily to deserving students but to those with direct or indirect connections. Worse, some scholarship programs are “on again, off again.” If an administration has prioritizes education then well and good, but there are those who don’t think education is important.
Taking into consideration the above-mentioned situations, it really is high time for all local government units to institutionalize their scholarship programs through an ordinance. I’m not aware of the towns in the province that have institutionalized their scholarship programs. All I know is that so far, only the Sangguniang Panlalwigan and the Sangguniang Bayan of Lingayen have proposed such measure for the province and for the capital town.
However, since ordinances take time to get approved, the municipal or city government, in the meantime, should already begin to form a selection board, like the provincial government’s Provincial Scholarship Fund Board, to ensure a fair selection section of scholarship beneficiaries. This Board shall not only be composed of officials from the LGU, but perhaps, of the public schools considering their knowledge of the academic performance of the students, and of the community that knows best who the students and their families are. The process and requirements should both be rigid yet have enough leeway to consider special factors. It should be rigid in the sense that certain criteria set should be met strictly.
In order to maximize impact of scholarship programs, the rules should be fair. No wonder, the President signed Senator Alan Cayetano’s bill into ‘Iskolar ng Bayan’ Act, which seeks to “democratize access to higher education by institutionalizing a college scholarship program” for top 10 graduates of public high school students. We need scholarship programs, and we need more for institutionalized scholarship programs.
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