Gawad Lingap Program in city institutionalized
The City Council passed Ordinance No. 07, series of 2022 that institutionalized the Gawad Lingap program in the city for public elementary and secondary students, and provided funds for the said purpose.
Under the ordinance, it will be the policy of the local government to make education accessible and affordable to all. It shall promote education for all so that no student shall be forced to dropout from school due to their family’s financial constraints in line with its vision to reduce the dropout cases among the public elementary and secondary students in the city.
The Gawad Lingap program generally aims to address the issues identified in the citizens satisfaction index survey in 2017 under education services of the Department of Education.
Further, it aims to assist learners who are in need of financial assistance to support their daily expenses in school.
The ordinance stated that the measure will apply to students enrolled in any public elementary and secondary institution in the city.
The qualifications necessary to be complied with for the program include the fact that the students must be enrolled for the ensuing school year in any public schools in the city; must belong to indigent families; applicants must not have an existing stipend or scholarship grant from any agency, company or individual regardless of the amount being received; applicants must not have intention to enroll in schools outside the city and joint annual income of parents must not exceed P150,000.
On the other hand, the guidelines for qualified students are the enrolled students must not incur 5 percent absences of the total number of school days for the ensuing school year; they must have passing remarks in all subjects in every grading period; they must be actively involved in all curricular and co-curricular activities of the education department and the local government and those that wish to transfer schools to other divisions will be automatically removed from the rolls.
In order to effectively implement the ordinance, especially on the screening and awarding of financial assistance to eligible students, the Gawang Lingap Committee will be created and composed of the City Mayor – Chairperson; City Schools Division Superintendent – Co-Chairperson and School Governance and Operations Division –
Chief Education Supervisor; School Governance and Operations Division – Education Program Supervisor; Local Youth Division Officer; and President of Federation of Parents-Teachers Association of Baguio City – members. The youth formation Officer of the education department will act as a Secretariat.
The ordinance proposed the appropriation of at least P2 million annually that will be included in the budget being earmarked to the City Schools Division Office by the local government to ensure the immediate implementation of the pertinent provisions of the measure.
Moreover, the annual budget being provided for the said program may be increased upon the recommendation of the City Schools Division Office through the Gawad Lingap committee.
The amount shall be allocated for the number of schools – 300, number of months – 10, monthly allowance for secondary Grade 7 -12 – P1,000 and elementary, kindergarten and Grade 6 – P5,000. – Dexter A. See
