Sixteen-year-old Marisol De Castro, a child-beneficiary of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program from Brgy. Sampiro in San Juan, Batangas Province, proudly marches with her parents as she graduates from high school. With a high school diploma in hand, she feels closer to her dreams of becoming a teacher.

According to Marisol, she saw how her parents (her father is a farmer while her mother is a vendor) worked just so she and her two other siblings can go to school. She is grateful that with the Pantawid Pamilya program, they are supported for their school needs and she no longer sees her parents fighting over their lack of money for their needs.

Marisol is just one of the more than 30,000 high school child-beneficiaries of the program who graduated this March 2015 in the CALABARZON Region alone.***

 

 

 

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30K Pantawid child-beneficiaries graduate from high school

 

At least 30,000 high school-beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program in the CALABARZON Region graduated this end of school year. The said number is the first set of child-beneficiaries of the program supported for their high school education.

Last year, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program expanded its coverage to support children up to 18 years old or until they finish high school, whichever comes first. Children enrolled in high school are provided a Php500 cash grant per month as compared to the Php300 monthly grant provided for elementary beneficiaries.The said expansion supports the Department of Education’s K-12 curriculum and acknowledges that high school graduates have better opportunities in terms of employment and helping their respective families.

In the country, DSWD Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman announced that there are 333,673 high school graduates who are beneficiaries of the program this school year.

“Nagpapasalamat po ako sa suporta ng Pantawid Pamilya sa amin. Dahil sa programa, nasisiguro na ng mga magulang ko na may pambaon kami araw-araw at may pambili ng anumang kailangan namin sa school,” shared Marisol De Castro, a child-beneficiary from Brgy. Sampiro, San Juan, Batangas, who graduated from high school last March 27.

De Castro added that with the program, they are just not provided educational assistance but their family is also provided opportunity to improve their relationship.

“Dahil sa mga pag-aaral nila (referring to the monthly Family Development Sessions attended by parent-grantees),naging mas maayos na ang aming pamilya,” she shared.

She added that it inspires her that she no longer sees her parents fighting over little things, especially over their lack of money. Further, she noted how her parents, particularly her mother, have become active in activities in the community.

Of the 30,000 graduates, more than 9,000 are from Batangas, 4,000 from Cavite, 10,000 from Quezon, 4,000 from Laguna and 3,000 from Rizal.

Besides this number, there are at least 70,000 child-beneficiaries who graduated in elementary and will be supported by the program until they finish high school or reach 18 years old.***