The government subsidy programs for private schools will prioritize the poorest learners in the selection of beneficiaries under fiscal year 2025, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian bared on Thursday.

The 2025 national budget carried Gatchalian’s proposed amendments to the special provision on Government Assistance and Subsidies under the Department of Education (DepEd) budget.

Under the special provision, learners from low-income households will be prioritized in the Senior High School Voucher Program (SHS-VP) and the Educational Service Contracting (ESC) Program.

Gatchalian said the special provision also specifies that learners from congested public schools will be given priority in the ESC.

Under the ESC program, the government shoulders the tuition and other fees of excess students in overcrowded junior public high schools who enter private schools contracted by the DepEd.

Under the SHS-VP, qualified SHS learners from participating private and non-DepEd schools receive subsidies in the form of vouchers.

For fiscal year 2025, PHP12.077 billion will be allotted for the ESC while PHP27.024 billion will be allocated for the SHS-VP.

Last year, Gatchalian flagged that 68 percent of ESC recipients for School Year (SY) 2020-2021 were from non-poor households or those with incomes above or equal to the per capita threshold.

“Fifty-nine percent of ESC recipients from SY 2019-2020 were from non-poor households,” he added.

Based on higher-end estimates by the office of the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, the leakage from the ESC program amounts to PHP8.6 billion.

The findings were derived from an analysis conducted by the senator’s office using data from the 2020 and 2022 Annual Poverty Indicators Surveys (APIS).

Using the same data from the 2020 and 2022 APIS, Gatchalian’s office also found that 70 percent of SHS-VP beneficiaries for SY 2020-2021 were from non-poor households.

During that school year, PHP7.21 billion or 53 percent of the PHP13.69 billion allocated for the SHS-VP was directed to these non-poor learners.

For SY 2019-2020, Gatchalian said 64 percent of SHS-VP beneficiaries were from non-poor households. During that year, PHP7.30 billion or 39 percent of the PHP18.76 billion allocated for the SHS-VP went to non-poor learners.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed the PHP6.326-trillion national budget for 2025 on Dec. 30, 2024.

Under Republic Act 12116, or “An Act Appropriating Funds for the Operation of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2025,” a total of PHP1.05 trillion has been allocated to the education sector. (PNA)