Commission on Higher Education chair (CHEd) Patricia Licuanan on Wednesday said the academic calendar shift among state universities and colleges (SUCs) may aggravate the already existing problem of delayed releases of scholarship grants to indigent students.
During the appropriations committee hearing of CHEd鈥檚 proposed P13.367-billion budget for 2017 at the House of Representatives, Licuanan was asked by A Teachers Rep. Julieta Cortuna if the commission has enough personnel to process the scholarship grants and release these on time.
Licuanan admitted the commission鈥檚 problem of lack of personnel to fast-track the releases.
She said the delay may also be attributed to the deluge of scholarship requests that are not in sync with the fiscal year.
She said they receive scholarship requests in the third quarter of the year, which means it is not in sync with the start of the fiscal year.
Licuanan said the shift in the academic calendar from June-March to Aug-May may even aggravate the problem of non-synchronization with the fiscal year.
鈥淲e have not been releasing their funds as sufficiently as we should. I鈥檒l admit that a bit of a challenge鈥β� The fact is essentially our academic calendar is not in sync with the fiscal year鈥� The real activity starts in the third quarter. That鈥檚 built in,鈥� Licuanan said.
鈥淚t is the third quarter when we start getting requests for scholarships鈥� But the fact is the academic calendar is not in sync with the fiscal calendar. That puts us at a disadvantage because we have to work with the academic institutions,鈥� Licuanan said.
Licuanan said the delay in scholarship releases may worsen because of the academic calendar shift.
鈥淲ith the adjustment in the school year, we are fearful that it will get even more pronounced, because some SUCs now start in August鈥� We spend most of the budget in the following year. So it鈥檚 really delayed spending because of the built-in problem of calendars not being in sync,鈥� she added.
Some SUCs, including the premier state University of the Philippines, have adjusted their calendar shift to August in keeping up with the trend in other countries.
Licuanan also admitted that the commission has not increased its regular personnel since the commission was tasked to process the deluge of scholarship grants requested by lawmakers for their constituents in light of the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision scrapping the congressional pork barrel.
But she said the CHEd is relying on contractual employees who the commission hoped would be regularized soon.
鈥�(There鈥檚 been) no increase in our personnel in response to our larger responsibility in student financial assistance system鈥� When I say we have not increased our staffing, we have not increased our regular staffing. But we have increased our contractual per regional offices to help out. We hope that can be regularized,鈥� Licuanan said.
Licuanan said the CHEd had also issued a memorandum minimizing the documentary requirements for indigent students in requesting for financial assistance.
According to the National Expenditure Program, the CHEd has a proposed P13.367-billion budget for 2017, 38.41 percent higher than the current P9.657 billion budget.
In its budget, the CHEd earmarked P5,545,314 budget for scholarship programs in 2017, an increase from its P2,130,191 current budget in 2016. The scholarship program聽includes CHEd鈥檚 regular scholarship program, the Tulong Dunong program, Iskolar ng Bayan program, and scholarship grant for children and dependents of sugar industry workers and farmers. RAM
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