“Lubos ang kagalakan namin sa ahensya dahil nagbunga ang determinasyon at pagsisisikap ng mga kabataan nating miyembro ng Pantawid Pamilya. Ipinakita nila na hindi hadlang ang kahirapan para maabot nila ang kanilang mga pangarap na makatapos sa pag-aaral (All of us in the department are very happy because of the determination and hard work shown by Pantawid Pamilya children to finish their education. They have proven that poverty is not always a hindrance in the way one’s effort to secure an education).”
This was the message of Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Officer-in-Charge Emmanuel A. Leyco to the first batch of K-12 Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) Senior High School students who are graduating this first quarter of the year.
For the Academic Year 2017-2018, about 226,102 Grade 12 Pantawid beneficiaries are graduating from Senior High School nationwide. A huge number is coming from Bicol Region with 26,432 graduates followed by Region VI with 23,541 and Region VII with 20,218 students.
Meanwhile, the Department also reported that the number of Grade 6 students who are moving up from primary to secondary education reached 957,938, with the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) having the most number of graduating Grade 6 students with 133,821 followed by Bicol Region with 89,260 and Region VI with 82,125 graduating students.
For those who will graduate from the Senior High School program, the OIC reminded that there are available government programs for them to continue their college education through the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and vocational training to improve their skills such as those offered by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
“Nais namin ipaalala sa ating mga graduates na patuloy na magsikap at mangarap. Maraming hamon ang buhay, pero hindi dapat maging hadlang ang mga problemang ito at maging dahilan na mahinto ang pagpapaunlad ninyong mga kabataan sa inyong mga sarili (We would like to remind the graduates to continue to persevere and dream. There are many challenges in life, but these should not stop you from improving yourselves),” the DSWD OIC said.
Pantawid Pamilya is a program of the national government implemented through the DSWD together with the Department of Education (DepEd), the Department of Health (DoH) and other national government agencies.
The program invests in the health and education of poor households primarily of children aged 18 and below.
As of March 2018, the Pantawid Pamilya covers 4.39 million households nationwide. #
