SOME 3,359 children coming from poor families in Western Visayas will now have the opportunity to earn a college degree through the Expanded Students’ Grant-in-Aid Program for Poverty Alleviation (ESGPPA) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The ESGPPA aims to effectively address poverty alleviation by increasing the number of graduates in higher education among poor households, said Joel P. Galicia, Assistant Regional Director of DSWD6.

“Once they graduate, we want to see them employed in high-value added occupations in order for them to lift their families out of poverty,” he added.

Given priority to the ESGPPA scholarship are beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the Philippines’ conditional cash transfer (CCT) initiative.

Student-grantees are entitled to a maximum of P60,000 grant per academic year or P30,000 per semester. This covers the costs for tuition and other school fees, academic and extracurricular expenses, purchase of text books, board and lodging, transportation and other support services to complete his/her chosen degree.

Funding for the program is released directly by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to the concerned state universities and colleges (SUCs).

Of the 3,359 scholars, Negros Occidental has the biggest slot with 1,272. Iloilo has 981, Capiz, 414; Antique, 311; Aklan, 294: and Guimaras, 87.

“They are now enrolled in the different SUCs in the region taking up priority courses of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED),” Galicia said.

The program was first implemented in 2012. Some 242 poor but deserving students in the region first availed of it. They are now on their third year in college at the different campuses of West Visayas State University (WVSU), said Galicia. (DSWD6/ Alma Jornadal-Estember)