THE City Government of San Fernando, through its Educational Scholarship Assistance Program (Esap), has started distributing scholarship grants to Fernandino college students in June.
More than 1,500 students coming from different public and private universities and colleges, including the City College of San Fernando, will be able to avail of the cash assistance for the first semester of the school year 2020 to 2021.
Esap head Jason Caguiat said the recipients are composed of both old and new set of beneficiaries who will be eligible to receive the grant, amounting to either P5,000, P7,500, or P15,000, depending on the student’s college program and grade.
The lowest grant is given to students who take any courses that are not listed under the special courses recognized by the Esap.
The higher grants, under the half and full merit categories, are given to students who take Environmental Science, Criminology, Midwifery, and Social Work programs.
The most recent activity was on June 14, 2021 at the City College of San Fernando where the Esap distributed the grants in batches and through a window transaction to comply with the minimum health standards against the Covid-19 pandemic.
There, one of the grantees of the new batch was able to share her message of gratitude for being part of the City’s scholarship program.
“Sobrang laki po ng tulong ng scholarship program ng San Fernando. Sa akin pong kaso, ito po ang unang pagkakataon na makasali ako dito at bilang ako lang at ng kapatid ko po ang nagtutustos sa aming mga pangangailangan, minsan po ay hindi namin kinakaya ang mga gastusin,” Ainie Ayob, a second-year Accountancy student from a state university, said.
“Malaki po ang pasasalamat ko sa programang ito dahil sa panahon pong ito na may pandemiya, mahirap makahanap ng mapagkakakitaan. Ang grant pong ito ay hindi lang makakatulong sa aking pag-aaral kung hindi sa pangangailangan din po namin ng aking kapatid," she added.
Meanwhile, the Esap will begin to accept and process documents for the current school year’s second semester grant. The office has yet to plan for the opening of applications for the new set of scholarship grant beneficiaries. (PR)