The city council has approved Ordinance 7, s. 2022 institutionalizing the Gawad Lingap, the student scholarship program of Baguio.
The ordinance endeavors to make education accessible and affordable to all, aligned with the city government’s “education for all” framework, so that no student shall be forced to drop out from school due to financial constraints.
The program aims to assist learners who are in need of financial assistance to support their daily expenses in school there by reducing dropout rates among public elementary and secondary students in Baguio.
Records from the Schools Division of Baguio City showed that of the 59,875 enrolled learners, there were 81 and 122 dropouts at the end of academic years 2018-2019 and 2017-2018, respectively, due to absences arising from financial constraints.
A parallel study concluded that education could be sustained by providing educational materials or sufficient school supplies and financial support.
To avail of the program, interested elementary and secondary students must be enrolled for the ensuing academic years in any public school within Baguio; belong to indigent families; do not have existing stipend and/or scholarship grant from any agency, company and/or individual regardless of amount being received; have no intention of enrolling in any school outside Baguio; and parents’ joint annual income should not exceed P150,000.
Qualified students must not incur five percent absences of the total number of school days for the ensuing school year; passed subjects in every grading period; active in all curricular and co-curricular activities of the DepEd and the city government; and the learner should not have been automatically removed from the roll upon transferring to other school division.
Aspiring applicants, together with their parents and/or guardians, shall secure and submit for screening their letter of intent to apply for the program, certificate of indigency from the City Social Welfare and Development Office; accomplished application form; endorsement letter from the school head/principal; and essay on the applicant’s family background which can be in written in the vernacular.
The process starts from pre-evaluation of application by the head/principal of school where the student is enrolled before endorsing it to the Gawad Lingap committee for assessment of documents for shortlisting; posting of possible grantees, interview of applicants together with their parents and/or guardian; deliberation of the committee; and announcement of qualified students.
All qualified students shall be notified by their school heads/principals for a mandatory orientation on the grant and signing of contract.
Grantees will be monitored and guided by the youth formation coordinator for their required submission of monthly attendance report, yearend evaluation report to test the impact of the program on them, including focus group discussions to assess the program in relation to their daily schooling and motivation to continue and eventually finish their education.
The Gawad Lingap committee is composed of the mayor as chair and the City Schools Division Superintendent as co-chair. The youth formation officer, Department of Education Baguio shall serve as the secretariat.
Members of the committee are the School Governance and Operations Division, the chief education supervisor and the education program supervisor, both of DepEd Baguio, the local youth development officer of CSWDO, and the federation president of Baguio Parents and Teachers Association.
An amount of P2 million shall be appropriated for the initial 300 scholars who will each receive for a period of 10 months a monthly allowance of P500 for kindergarten to grade 6 and P1,000 for grade 7 to 12.
April 19, 2024
