By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff reporter
Batac City—Good news for students here.
The city government here lowered the weighted average rating to 85 for its scholarship program.
Sangguniang Panlungsod secretary Gladys Lagura made this announcement after the council passed an amendment to City Ordinance No. 2007-05 on May 29, 2018.
Batac councilor Medeldorf Gaoat sponsored the amendment to the ordinance that establish the city government’s secondary scholarship program.
The amended ordinance states that elementary graduates who at least has an 85 weighted average now have the chance to avail of the scholarship program provided the annual income of both parents should not exceed the P120,000.00 annual income, as provided by the regional wage board.
For the past years, only elementary honor graduates and others who have a weighted average of 90 can avail of the scholarship program.
Batac mayor Albert D. Chua requested the amendment to the scholarship ordinance.
Mr. Chua said that since this school year is the start for free tuition for state colleges and universities, it should also be the time for the city government here to increase the number of its scholars.
The mayor said he learned that the city government spends from PHP15 million to PHP20 million for education. With the increase in the city’s annual budget, he said Batac officials decided to expand the city’s scholarship program.
Records here show that there are at least 240 incoming Grade 7 students who have at least an 85 weighted average who can avail of the city’s scholarship program this coming school year of 2018-2019. They, however, are still subject to the income of parents’ rule.
Mr. Chua verified that should all the 240 pass the screening, the city government has available funds for their scholarships.
From the PHP5.5 million existing funds for the scholarship program, the city government need more than a million for the new scholars. But because of the two-year savings, they now only need PHP300,000 to complete the budget.
Mr. Chua explained that the city government saved funds for the scholarship program due to the implementation of the K-12 program.
Meanwhile, Mr. Chua is also proposing the increase of stipend for college scholars to PHP500 per month.
Currently, college scholars at Mariano Marcos State University-Batac receive PHP1,000 stipend monthly; while other scholars studying outside Batac receive PHP1,500. With the free tuition in the state university, the mayor said they may also increase the stipend by PHP500 monthly.