STATEMENT OF SEN. WIN GATCHALIAN ON TERTIARY STUDENTS' HIGH DROPOUT RATES

In its Year Two Report, the Second Congressional Commission found that 39% or 4 out of 10 students drop out of college despite the Free Higher Education Law. This alarming report highlights the need for more targeted interventions to ensure students complete their education, not just have access to it.

One way to address this is by prioritizing the poorest students as Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) beneficiaries. For School Year 2022-2023, only less than 1% of TES beneficiaries were from 4Ps households, which goes against the law's intent to support the poorest students.

To reverse this trend, I introduced a special provision in the 2024 national budget mandating the prioritization of the poorest students in TES selection. As a result, the share of TES grantees from the poorest households increased to 27% for School Year 2023-2024. This policy will continue for fiscal year 2025. Moving forward, we must ensure that TES grants are sufficient to help beneficiaries complete their education. Dahil sa mga hakbang na ito, makikita natin ang mas maliwanag na kinabukasan para sa ating mga mag-aaral.