IT WILL cost Cebu City’s taxpayers an estimated P1.5 billion a year to sustain the distribution of financial aid to help public high school graduates attend college.
The estimate comes from Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who admitted the program will get costlier in the next few years, as the number of beneficiaries increases.
“Wa tay problema sa first year pero magkadaghan man ang mga estudyante, so, moabot sa tulo ka tuig, magka-problema gyud ta (We won’t have a problem in the first year, but as the number of high school graduates increases, we can expect to run into problems by the third year),” Osmeña said.
However, the congressman-elect of Cebu City’s south district said he wants the City to sustain the program until the beneficiaries earn a college degree.
Ploy
City Hall began the program this year by distributing P10,000 to each public high school graduate who intends to enroll in college.
The distribution, which came in the middle of the campaign period, provoked criticisms from those who saw it as a ploy to get the students’ parents to vote for the administration ticket.
Osmeña said he is determined to pursue the program not only to prove critics wrong but to give the students a good start.
He described the program as the “most ambitious” the City has ever had, though it will cost at least P1.5 billion a year.
One way the program can be sustained, he said, is to double the selling price of South Road Properties (SRP) lots in the next three years.
The city council has approved a resolution raising the prices of lots in the SRP.
The price of interior lots ranges from P8,000 to P16,000 per square meter, and lots along the Cebu South Coastal Road cost from P11,000 to P22,000.
“The free education program lasts only up to high school, that’s why we have no choice but to do what we can to help students attend college for free,” the mayor said.
He has also committed to help Mayor-elect Michael Rama manage the SRP, even as he begins his legislative career.
Sun.Star Cebu, in a report last month, quoted a Department of Education (DepEd) official as saying local governments need to go beyond building more classrooms or hiring teachers, and to help grade and high school students from dropping out.
DepEd 7 Director Recaredo Borgonia said the low participation and graduation rate in basic education is an urgent challenge. The depart-ment’s studies show only 65 of every 100 Grade 1 pupils manage to finish Grade 6. (ETB)