Moving up to senior high: How to avail education subsidy voucher from DepEd

As the School Year 2023-2024 ends, students prepare for the start of the next academic year.

In this series, GMA News Online will explore the subsidies made available by the government both in the basic and higher education systems, and how underprivileged students can avail them.

FIRST OF THREE PARTS

Finishing junior high school is surely a feat for young learners. But the real challenge comes after that—moving up to senior high and pursuing a track that will hone their skills to prepare them for their future.

For incoming Grade 11 students this School Year 2024-2025 who are uptight about the tuition, fret not because you still have a chance to apply for the senior high school voucher program (SHS VP) of the Department of Education (DepEd) and avail the financial assistance to help ease off the burden.

The SHS VP, which is co-implemented by DepEd with the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC), provides subsidies in the form of vouchers to qualified SHS learners in participating schools. 

Recipients get vouchers ranging from P14,000 up to P22,500 per year, depending on their category and the location of their school. 

Automatic beneficiaries of this program are Grade 10 completers in a public school, as well as grantees of the Education Service Contracting (ESC) who completed Grade 10 in a participating private school. 

Meanwhile, the following learners still need to apply for the voucher and submit an application on the Online Voucher Application Portal (OVAP) of PEAC until Tuesday, June 4: 

• All Grade 10 completers in SY 2023- 2024 from private schools who are not ESC grantees
• All Grade 10 completers prior to SY 2023 -2024 but not earlier than 2016, and had not previously enrolled for Grade 11
• Learners who passed the alternative learning system accreditation and equivalency (ALS A&E) test for Grade 10 not earlier than 2018, but had not previously enrolled for Grade 11; or ALS learners who passed the portfolio for Grade 10.
• Learners who passed the Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT) for Grade 10 not earlier than 2016, but had not previously enrolled for Grade 11; or learners who have yet to take the PEPT for Grade 10 in the upcoming SY

Learners who graduated high school in 2015 or earlier, incoming Grade 12 learners who were not part of SHS VP in Grade 11, and non-Filipino learners are deemed not eligible for the program. 

As of Monday, DepEd spokesperson Undersecretary Michael Poa told GMA News Online that around 53,000 accounts have already been created on the OVAP. However, he said the DepEd only opens around 40,000 slots every school year for the voucher program. 

“Itong out of the 53,000, kailangan pang suriin ‘yan, kailangan pang i-verify, dahil nga lalong-lalo na ngayon [we still need to verify the 53,000 accounts, especially now that], we are really trying to give the vouchers to the learners who need it most,” Poa said. 

“That's something that we would like to verify kung ilan ba talaga diyan ‘yung unique accounts kasi baka nagdoble-doble lang din. Ite-check pa natin lahat ngayon ‘yan,” he added. 

(We will still verify how many of these accounts are unique, because there might be double accounts. We will check all of it.) 

The posting of the application results on the OVAP, as well as the start of the voucher redemption is scheduled on July 12. 

The releasing of the Qualified Voucher Applicants (QVAs) certificates will be until September 13, while the submission of the Certificate of Completion, Certificate of Rating, or Alternative Learning System Form 5 through the OVAP will be until August 30. 

Click the link for the list of participating schools under the SHS Voucher Program: https://peac.org.ph/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/SHS-VP-ALPHALIST.pdf 

SUCs, LUCs

In the past school years, state universities and colleges (SUCs) and local universities and colleges (LUCs) were included in the SHS voucher program while the transition time frame for the K to 12 program was still in effect. 

This means that qualified SHS learners were previously allowed to enroll in SUCs and LUCs to avail of the financial assistance. 

However, in January this year, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) reiterated its decision to discontinue the implementation of the SHS program in SUCs and LUCs. This was done because SUCs and LUCs no longer have a legal basis to continue accepting SHS students as the K-12 transition period has already ended, according to CHED chairman Prospero de Vera III.

Poa clarified that SUCs and LUCs that offer the SHS program may still continue to accept SHS students as long as the institution will be the ones to shoulder the operation costs from their own budget.

DepEd also extended the voucher program privilege to Grade 11 students enrolled in SUCs and LUCs in SY 2023-2024 until they complete their Grade 12 studies until SY 2024-2025.

Beginning SY 2024-2025, DepEd, however emphasized that it will no longer be extending the voucher program to incoming Grade 11 learners in SUCs and LUCs. 

With this, affected SHS learners were given the option either to enroll in a public school offering basic education or enroll in a private school and avail of the voucher program. 

Poa said that DepEd is thus expecting that there might be more SHS learners who will enroll in public schools in the upcoming academic year. 

Asked if there are enough classrooms in public schools to cater to all of them, Poa said, “Sa tingin naman natin, it's not a matter that really is alarming to us because nga even last year when we computed ilan ba talaga ‘yung mga batang nasa SHS sa mga LUCs and SUCs, nasa mga 17,000 sila nationwide.”

(It's not a matter that really is alarming to us because even last year when we computed how many SHS learners were enrolled in LUCs and SUCs, there were only around 17,000 of them nationwide.) 

"So if you divide that per region, per division, per school, nagpahiwatig naman ang ating mga regional directors na maa-absorb naman sila ng ating current senior high school sa public schools,” he added. 

(Our regional directors already said they can absorb these SHS learners in our current senior high school in public schools.) 

Poa also said DepEd is continuously trying to improve the skills of the teachers in senior high school, specifically those in the textbook track, through training and certification programs. 

The opening of classes for SY 2024-2025 is set on July 29 this year and will end on April 15, 2025.—AOL, GMA Integrated News