2 months ago
36
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Jean Mangaluz - Philstar.com
January 22, 2026 | 2:38pm
Students attend their classes after their holiday break at Araullo High School in Manila on January 4, 2024.
The STAR / Ernie Penaredondo
MANILA, Philippines — Almost half of the allotted budget for senior high school (SHS) vouchers in 2024 went to non-poor households, according to estimates from Sen. Win Gatchalian.
The SHS voucher program is the government’s financial aid for Grade 10 students so that they can finish SHS in a private high school or college. The vouchers can amount to P22,500 in senior high schools in the National Capital Region.
Gatchalian estimated that the leakages amounted to 47% of the P26.31 billion allotted for the school year 2024-2025.
Crossed with data from the Annual Poverty Indicators Survey, the senator said that 67% of the SHS voucher beneficiaries were from non-poor households.
Gatchalian admonished the Department of Education for failing to issue guidelines against such leakages.
DepEd has not upgraded its new guidelines for the SHS voucher program in two years.
“Nagiging volume game na ito ng mga eskuwelahan, for profit na ngayon ang senior high school. Padamihan ng estudyante, tapos kayo ang sisingilin,” Gatchalian said in the Committee on Basic Education hearing.
(It is turning into a volume game in schools, senior high is for profit. Taking in more students and then you are the ones to pay for them.)
