The House Committee on Higher and Technical Education has approved for plenary debate a bill granting discount on books and school supplies to underprivileged students.
Rep. Roman T. Romulo, chairman of the committee, said the passage of the bill would ease the financial burden of underprivileged students and help them cope with the high cost of education.
The authors of House Bill 5902 are Reps. Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales (Party List, CIBAC), Bellaflor J. Angara-Castillo (Lone District, Aurora), Marcelino R. Teodoro (1st District, Marikina City), Romulo (Lone District, Pasig City), and Czarina D. Umali (3rd District, Nueva Ecija).
The proposed “Underprivileged Higher and Technical Students’ Discounts Act” grants 5-percent discount to students in buying books, school supplies, food and medicines.
The bill will cover the students who are enrolled in post-secondary non-degree technical-vocational courses and those enrolled in Bachelor’s Degree Programs at the college level, post secondary nondegree technical-vocational course.
Likewise, the measure will also cover the student-beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer or Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and other poverty reduction programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Students with part-time jobs whose income combined with the annual gross income of their parents do not exceed PHP300,000 are also covered by the bill.