Baybay provides scholarship program to high school drop-outs

BAYBAY CITY -- A scholarship program for high school drop-outs in this city is currently being undertaken by the City Government with more than 800 beneficiaries.

This project, according to city Mayor Carmen Cari, is their way of helping those who were not given the privilege to continue their high school education due to poverty.

“We had identified more than 800 drop-out high school students to avail of this project, where each of them is to receive P1, 000 worth of school supplies and P300 stipend every month,” said Cari.

The recipients who were already identified by their office are expected to increase each year as it is already part of their city’s annual budget to ensure that funding will always be set aside for it.

This program came about when they noticed that most of the scholarship programs offered are only for college students. And those underprivileged youth, who had no chance of going to college, sometimes decide to drop out while still in high school.

“We want to help the Department of Education address their problem on the incidence of drop-outs among high school students,” Cari said, adding it is an innovation they formulated to increase enrollees and lessen the drop-out rate in their city.

However, the drop-out rate in Baybay is not clear as the mayor failed to provide the percentage or number of high school students who had stopped their studies.

“But this scholarship grant is only available to students who are residents of Baybay,” Cari stressed, noting that some high school students in their city come from their neighboring towns.

She said they are also offering scholarship grants to selected college students aside from the grant coming from Representative Jose Carlos Cari.

Cari added that apart from students, teachers in Baybay will also be given P1,000 cash incentive every quarter of the year. (Leyte Samar Daily Express)