Senator pushes bill for more national scholars

Senate Majority Floor Leader Alan Peter Cayetano (Photo from Cayetano’s Facebook page)

A senator has filed a bill that seeks to make higher education accessible to deserving students of public high schools nationwide.

Under Senate Bill No. 2275, promulgated by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, honor students of all public high schools in the country will be ensured admission into state universities and colleges, such as the University of the Philippines.

If passed and enacted, the “Iskolar ng Bayan Bill,” as it is otherwise called, will mandate all state-run schools to admit and grant full college scholarships to the top 10 graduates of public high schools across the country. This would mean free tuition and other fees for students who make the grade.

“[A]ccess to quality education is a right, not a privilege, even at the tertiary level. Let us provide Filipino families, especially the poor, the kind of education that would make their lives better,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano stressed that this bill is now all the more urgent, on the heels of the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund, which was used by some legislators towards the scholarships of about 400,000 scholars in their electorates.

He also brought forth that there are 7,913 public high schools in the country. “That is roughly 79,130 students who are sure of going to college if this measure is made law, or 79,130 Filipino families who have a chance of waking up to a better future,” he added.

The Senate has approved the bill on third reading, and its counterpart in the House of Representatives has been passed by the appropriations committee.