The City Council, during last Monday’s regular session, approved on first reading a proposed ordinance amending several sections of Ordinance No. 07, series of 2022 that institutionalized the Gawad Lingap program in the city for public elementary and secondary students and providing funds for the said purpose.
Under the proposed ordinance, the city government’s educational assistance program shall apply to residents of the city and students who are officially enrolled in any basic education level composed of kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school and senior high school within the city.
Further, beneficiaries of the program must be enrolled for the current school year in any public or private schools in the city.
The ordinance added that qualified students must not incur 5 percent absences on the total number of prescribed school days for the current year.
Moreover, the implementation of the ordinance shall be funded under the general fund of the city government under the Schools Division Office with a total amount of PhP5.3 million where the target number of beneficiaries per school year is at least 600 pupils.
Under the revised guidelines, kindergarten pupils shall be receiving PhP500, Grade 1-6 – PhP750, junior high school – PhP1,000 and senior high school – PhP1,200 per month.
While the program prioritizes indigent students enrolled in public schools, the ordinance stated that it does not totally exclude those equally qualified learners who are enrolled in private learning institutions where a maximum of 25 percent from the total number of grantees can be allocated for qualified learners enrolled in private schools in the city.
In order to accommodate more beneficiaries, the ordinance specified that a family can only avail of one slot or one beneficiary per family.
The ordinance explained that Baguio is home to more than 100,000 learners and students and with the enactment of Ordinance No. 07, series of 2019 the city government was able to extend its support to the learners and students.
It evaluated that expanding the provisions of the proposed measure will further improve the support of the city and widen its coverage for efficient implementation. By Dexter A. See
