GHOST STUDENTS? | Discrepancy in senior high school voucher program raises serious alarm

March 22, 2024 , 01:55 PM

(March 22, 2024) – More than 19,000 senior high school students who supposedly benefited from the voucher program of the Department of Education (DepEd) are undocumented, an investigation of a Senate panel revealed on Wednesday, raising concerns among lawmakers.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who heads the committee on basic education, pointed out that the discrepancies under the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (E-GASTPE) program must be scrutinized.

Each beneficiary is entitled to receive P14,000 to P22,000 under E-GASTPE. But records showed that 19,139 senior high school students from 2021 to 2023 who received vouchers to study in private educational institutions cannot be traced now.

“I’m trying to find out if there’s an intention to defraud the government,” said Gatchalian during the inquiry last Wednesday.

The Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) noted that several schools failed to submit the necessary documentation to verify the legitimacy of their E-GASTPE beneficiaries.

“Unfortunately, for a majority or for a big portion of their VPBs (voucher program beneficiaries), they were not able to present any documents during the visits or during the monitoring activity,” said PEAC monitoring and processing officer Rodrick Malonzo during the hearing.

With this problem, private schools would need to return as much as P239 million to the DepEd.

It was also reported by the Commission on Audit that there were similarly undocumented students during academic year 2016 to 2017 since they were able to receive two vouchers when they were only supposed to get one.

Malonzo acknowledged the possibility that some private schools may be trying to gain from the system, citing anecdotal reports.

“But with regards kung sadya ba or hindi, I think for some schools that have less than 10 or one out of a hundred VPBs, I think this may be an honest mistake from the school. But when the numbers reach hundreds, this is really a significant issue,” said Malonzo.

Gatchalian also stressed the need to refine the guidelines of the voucher program to ensure that only those who are in need will benefit from it.

For now, the DepEd, which is headed by Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, said it does not release funds to private schools if the records do not match. It is also looking into the issue.

“Before we pay, we actually check it or cross-check it with our learner information system,” said DepEd director Tara Rama. “Only those (schools whose) billing statements are in sync with our learner information system, that’s the only payment that we release.”

(With reports from Camille Samonte, News5)

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