Subsidy vouchers available for senior high students

Incoming senior high school (SHS) students may apply for government subsidy vouchers starting Nov. 9.

For manual submissions, the deadline is the third Friday of January (Jan. 15 next year).

Students who file their applications online, through the Online Voucher Application Portal (OVAP) website (https://ovap.deped.gov.ph), have until the second Friday of February (Feb. 12). The results will be known on the third Friday of March.

The Department of Education (DepEd), through Order 46 s. 2015, has released the guidelines on the implementation of the SHS voucher program.

QUALIFIED

Under the program, all Grade 10 graduates from public and private junior high schools this school year may avail of the subsidy vouchers if they want to enroll in a private high school, private university or college, state or local university or college, or technical-vocational school.

Junior high school graduates from public schools and state universities will receive the full voucher value while Education Service Contracting (ESC) grantees from ESC participating schools will be given 80 percent of the voucher value, the department said in a statement on its website.

Non-ESC students from private high schools can still apply for subsidy, but they will be subject to an assessment of their socioeconomic status. If they qualify, they will also get 80 percent of the voucher value.

The voucher program will cover two years and vouchers have to be redeemed within the first semester of the SHS school year to be valid.

Voucher payments will be released on a per semester basis to the SHS provider where the voucher program beneficiary is enrolled, DepEd said.

The beneficiaries will be required to attend the registration program to be scheduled by the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) National Secretariat in selected areas.

They could be disqualified from the program if they drop out, do not enroll the following school year (unless it’s due to medical reasons), are retained in the same grade level, or transfer to another SHS provider within the school year.

SHIFT

Shifting to another strand or track will be allowed only after the first semester of Grade 11 within the same school. A student may also transfer to another school after completing Grade 11.

The SHS program program offers four tracks or specializations: Academic, Technical-Vocational-Livelihood, Sports, and Arts and Design. These are on top of the core curriculum.

In a previous statement, DepEd Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, FSC, said junior high students are encouraged to submit their choice of school and SHS track to their class advisers from Oct. 19 to Nov. 13.

The advisers will then submit these through the SHS registration module in the Learner Information System (LIS) of DepEd.

Under the academic track are strands on: Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM); Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS); Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM); and General Academic Strand (GAS).

The technical-vocational-livelihood track, meanwhile, includes the Agri-Fishery, Home Economics, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and Industrial Arts strands.

Senior high is introduced under the K-to-12 program.