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Policies & Guidelines for the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education at the Basic Education Level 2012-2013 (1)

POLICIES AND GUIDELINES FOR THE GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE TO STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN PRIVATE EDUCATION AT THE BASIC EDUCATION LEVEL EFFECTIVE SY 2012-2013

I. LEGAL BASES

A. Article XIV of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines and Republic Act 8545, otherwise known as the "Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE)," provide the legal bases for the Education Service Contracting (ESC) and the Education Voucher System (EVS). It is the declared policy of the State, in conformity with the mandate of the Constitution, to promote and make quality education available to all Filipino citizens. The State also recognizes the complementary roles of public and private schools in the education system, especially the latter's invaluable contribution to education. The ESC, since it's pilot test in 1982-1984, has become a symbol of private-public school partnership in making quality secondary education accessible to all Filipino citizens.

B. The management of GASTPE has been contracted out by DepEd to the Fund for Assistance to Private Education (FAPE), a perpetual trust fund created by and between the Philippine and US governments under E.O. 156, s. 1968 for the purpose of providing assistance to private education in the country and which by amendment under Executive Order 150 series of 1994 expanded the purpose of the Fund to accept and manage, to wit: "Contributions, donations, grants, bequests, gifts and/or loans from the Government of the Republic of the Philippines for programs of assistance to private education may be managed and administered by the Private Education Assistance Committee (the trustee of the Fund) as provided therein."

II. SCOPE AND COVERAGE

A. In conformity to the foregoing mandates, the Department of Education (DepEd) shall expand the coverage of the ESC, as it started to phase out the EVS progressively, beginning with the First Year level in SY 2011-2012. EVS shall be completely phased out by SY 2014-2015 when the Fourth Year grantees of the program shall have finished their secondary education.

B. The Teacher Salary Subsidy (TSS) shall be continued in fulfillment of the government's support to private secondary education. The TSS program of the GASTPE was implemented for the first time in SY 2009-2010. It provides the grant of salary subsidy to teachers in private high schools participating in the ESC program.

III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND POLICIES

The guidelines and procedures for the implementation of the ESC shall be governed by the following general principles and policies:

A. ESC is aimed at democratizing and improving access to quality secondary education through government extension of financial assistance to deserving elementary school graduates who wish to pursue their secondary education in private schools. It is geared towards reducing the class size to manageable levels in public high schools, especially those experiencing shortage of classrooms and teachers. Thus, through the ESC, the government will be able to decongest public secondary schools.

B. In an effort to expedite the decongestion of public secondary schools and subsequently improve their learning environment, ESC shall be expanded to include the Open High School (OHS) Program in providing students greater access to secondary education.

C. Program beneficiaries of ESC participating private high schools are assured of the Government's commitment to support their education in private high schools for as long as they meet the requirements for regular promotion to each of the succeeding school years until they graduate.

D. The ESC is a concrete demonstration of strong public-private sector partnership that is mirrored at all levels of the program's operations.

1. DepEd, FAPE and the participating private schools recognize the need to continuously monitor and evaluate the ESC. A database on the ESC shall be developed and maintained.

2. DepEd shall allocate and obligate the annual GASTPE budget within the calendar year so that payments can be effected to the participating private schools on time.

IV. GENERAL GUIDELINES

The following general guidelines shall apply to the ESC program. The guidelines for the EVS program issued in SY 2010-2011 per DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2010 shall continue to be applied to cover the existing student grantees until the last batch of grantees in the Fourth Year shall have completed their secondary education by SY 2014-2015.
A. COVERAGE OF THE ESC GRANTS

1. With the inclusion of the OHS in ESC, the latter shall cover, effective SY 2012-2013, two groups of students: those who are in the formal system where learning is through direct instruction in the classroom; and those in the alternative delivery mode (ADM) where blended learning is provided through a combination of guided instruction and off-school learning or home schooling, or in exceptional cases, independent learning through home schooling.

2. ESC grantees in the OHS shall be further classified into two levels:

2.1 Honors Program if the public school grantee belongs to the top two percent (based on MPS in Grade 6 NAT) of the incoming Grade 7 (First Year) students or with an average in Grade 6 of 90% and above. Students in this program have the option to undertake blended learning or full home schooling. They, too, have opportunity for acceleration.

2.2 Regular Program if the public school grantee belongs to the upper average 10% (based on MPS in Grade 6 NAT) of incoming Grade 7 (First Year) students or with an average of 85-89% in Grade 6. Students in this program are placed in blended learning.

B. CONDITIONS OF THE ESC GRANTS

1. The ESC grants shall cover the four (4) years of secondary education from First Year to graduation. They can start only at the First Year level. No new grants shall be awarded at higher year levels. If the grantees are enrolled in night high schools or evening classes designed for a five-year curriculum, the grant can be availed for four years only.

2. The grant is deemed renewed for the next school year if the student is promoted to the next year level and enrolls in the same school. Since ESC is a system of financial assistance to the grantees, no maintaining grade shall be required for retention in the program.

3. The grant is deemed terminated for any one of the following reasons:

a. If the student drops out for non-health reasons in the middle of the school year;

b. If the student has not applied for an official leave and does not re-enroll the following year;

c. If the student is retained at the same year level or otherwise not promoted to the next higher year level;

d. If the student is suspended for more than 2 weeks or dismissed or expelled by the school for disciplinary violations; or

e. If the student transfers to a non-ESC participating school.

4. For reasons of force majeure, a grantee may be allowed to continue enjoying the grant.

5. A grantee may apply for transfer to another ESC participating school.

6. Transfers from outside the National Capital Region (NCR) into NCR are not allowed. Transfers from NCR to participating schools outside the NCR may be allowed but the amount of the grant is reduced accordingly.

C. AMOUNTS OF THE ESC AND OTHER FINANCIAL MATTERS 

For ESC Grantees in Formal Schooling

1. For all First Year grantees in regions outside NCR, the amount of subsidy shall be Six Thousand Five Hundred Pesos (P6,500.00) per grantee for an entire school year. The same amount of grant shall not be applied to old or existing beneficiaries of the program. Further, if the tuition and other fees being charged by the school are lower than the ESC grant, the amount that shall be paid to the school shall not be more than the fees being charged.

2. For student grantees in NCR, the amount of subsidy shall be Ten Thousand Pesos (P10,000.00) per grantee for an entire school year. This is in recognition of the fact that private school tuition and all other fees are much higher in NCR than in the rest of the country.

3. If a grantee transfers to another ESC participating school before July 15, the DepEd shall pay the grant to the receiving school, not the school of origin. No payment of subsidy to the receiving school shall be made for transfers beyond this date.

4. If a grantee transfers to another ESC participating school after July 15, DepEd shall pay the subsidy to the school of origin. It shall be the responsibility of the grantee to settle accounts with the receiving school. It has been the policy per DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2010 that the receiving school cannot collect payment from DepEd for the late transferee/s. For statistical purposes, the student who transfers after said date shall be counted as a grantee at the school of origin for the current school year.

5. It shall be the responsibility of the receiving school to report in its online school account in the FAPE website the names and other details of transferees in and out of the school concerned.

For ESC Grantees in OHS

1. The amount of grant for ESC grantees in OHS shall be Six Thousand Five Hundred Pesos (P6,500.00) per grantee for the First Year level. Unlike the ESC grantees in formal schooling where differentials between the subsidy and schools' actual tuition and other fees often exist and are paid for by the grantees, the amount of grant given to ESC beneficiaries in the OHS constitutes full payment for the entire academic year.

2. Transfer to and from the formal classes and OHS of ESC shall be allowed provided that:

2.1 the ESC grantees in the OHS are in the same lessons as those in the formal classes; and

2.2 the ESC grantees in the OHS are willing to pay the differential between the tuition fee and the ESC grant.

D. PRIVATE SCHOOL PARTICIPATION IN ESC

1. Private schools desiring to participate in either formal instruction or OHS of ESC, or both, may write a letter of intent with their contact details to their respective DepEd Division Superintendents who shall, in turn, certify to the eligibility of schools and endorse this to the concerned FAPE Regional Program Coordinators. The conditions for school participation in the formal instruction mode of the program are as follows:

a. The school should be recognized by the government. It must be accredited at
least as Level II by any member of the Federation of Accrediting Agencies of the
Philippines (FAAP), or has passed the FAPE Certification Program.' A brief
description of the Certification Program is available at www.peac-fape.org.ph.

b. A private school which has been recently organized for which government
recognition is not yet possible may still be eligible to participate provided it is
certified by the DepEd Division office to be the only private school operating in the community and provided further, that it will eventually pass the FAPE Certification Program during the first year of participation.
In addition to the aforecited basic requirements for participation, schools that are willing to offer OHS in ESC should be able to meet the following criteria:

c. Availability of ICT facilities, including connectivity;

d. Teacher competence: technological fluency and knowledge of instructional design;

e. Availability of one or more classrooms for guided learning;

f. Availability of guidance services; and

g. Trained school head and teachers on ADM

Preference shall be given to schools that have been rated "Above Standard" in the FAPE certification program.

FAPE, in collaboration with the DepEd Division Office, shall assist schools in assessing and continuously improving their quality. A detailed listing of the names, contact numbers and addresses of participating schools is shown in Annex A and is also available at www.peac-fape.org.ph.

2. Other requirements for participating private schools include the following:

a. The private school shall submit its complete Basic Education Information System (BEIS) forms as follows: one (1) copy to DepEd Division Office; and two (2) copies to the Regional Program Committee (RPCom) through the FAPE RPC. The DepEd BEIS forms are available at DepEd website: www.deped.gov.ph.

b. The private school has a functional School Improvement Plan (SIP).

c. The private school has a Dropout Reduction Program in place which shall include special counseling for ESC grantees, when needed.

d. The private school has a School Committee composed of the school head as chairperson, the representative of the PTA, and the representative of the faculty association. This committee screens and prepares each grantee's profile as basis for grantee selection and identifying at-risk students.

e. The private school has a functional Faculty Club that continuously promotes the professional and personal development of teachers.

E. ALLOCATION OF SLOTS

Using national standards, the DepEd Office of Planning Service (OPS) shall determine the normal carrying capacity of each public secondary school. The resulting estimated number of students beyond the normal carrying capacity of each public school is herein referred to as "aisle" students. Ideally, the number of ESC grants shall be proportional (if not equal) to the number of aisle students.

1. As has been the policy, First Year ESC slots shall be equal to the number of First Year grantees of the preceding school year (referred to as the fixed allocation) on condition that the school is in good standing in the program and it has demonstrated its capacity to utilize slots allocated to them. Meanwhile, additional slots shall be given to participating schools in areas where there is serious overcrowding in public secondary schools (Annex B). Priority shall be accorded to FAAP accredited schools and to schools that were rated "Above Standard" in the latest DepEd-FAPE Certification Program.

2. Participating ESC schools that need additional slot allocations over and above their fixed allocations must submit their written request indicating the number of additional slots needed to the FAPE RPC not later than May 15, of every year. The grant of additional slot allocations depends on item 1 above and on the availability of additional slots.

3. The RPCom shall be responsible for determining and approving the distribution of additional slot allocations per division and to participating schools on the basis of need by May 30. A report signed by the chairperson or his/her representative of the RPCom of such distribution of allocations shall be forwarded to FAPE, for consolidation. FAPE, in turn, shall render a report to DepEd Central Office through the BSE on or before June 30. This shall be the standard procedure every school year.

> Policies & Guidelines for the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education at the Basic Education Level 2012-2013 (Part 2)

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"Policies & Guidelines for the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education at the Basic Education Level 2012-2013 (1)" was written by Mary under the Schools / Universities category. It has been read 8594 times and generated 0 comments. The article was created on and updated on 04 May 2012.
Total comments : 2
Rose Janice Marquez [Entry]

Good day!
Ask ko lang po yung daughter ko na nasa Grade 7 and naka enroll sa St. Theresa's College QC. Nag tanong ako sa registrar re sa ESC ang sabi nila is hindi sila nag apply for Junior HS. Applicable lang daw yung ESC nila for Senior HS. May possibility kaya na pwede pa din ako mag apply? Also, yung son ko is Grade 6 sa Sacred Heart Academy of LaLoma, pwede ko ba kuhanan ng ESC for next year? Sana po matulungan ninyo ako. Salamat and God Bless
virginia t. maranan [Entry]

ask ko lang po sino sino ang qualified maging fafe grantee?.......
i have a prob with my son n nag aral s jru first yr last yr and hindi p cya naging fape grantee....eh ung ibang classmate nya eh fafe grantee....and i ask sa guidance why....committee daw po nila ang magdedecide nun kung sino sino ang magiging fafe grantee....tama po b un?