QUEZON City Mayor Herbert M. Bautista assured graduating elementary pupils they can pursue their dream of graduating from college because the city will henceforth help provide tuition for their college studies.
Bautista said elementary graduates should not be afraid of continuing their education until they reach the college level because his administration has started to offer free college education to the students of Quezon City.
“Quezon City under my watch hopes to give all children who graduate from senior high school the chance to enroll in college in this city,” Bautista said in Filipino. “I want you all to hold on to your dreams.”
Bautista spoke to the graduates of the Quirino Elementary School during its graduation ceremony.
In a news statement, the city’s Public Affairs and Information Services Office (Paiso) said more than 42,000 pupils finished the primary level the city’s different public elementary schools.
About 33,000 students finished junior high-school programs, while close to 4,000 went through senior high-school programs this year from different public schools in the city, the Paiso said.
Bautista told the students that “access to college education has become easier [because] of Republic Act 10931, otherwise known as the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, which provides free tuition and other school fees in state universities and colleges, local universities and colleges and state-run technical-vocational (tech-voc) institutions.
It also offers tertiary-education subsidies and student-loan programs. The Paiso said the Bautista administration has prioritized education since Bautista became mayor in 2010. His administration has already put up 10 school buildings equipped with laboratories, canteens, and auditoriums as of February 28 in Barangays Batasan Hills, Fairview, San Bartolome, New Era, Santo Cristo and Project 6.
Eight more school buildings will be finished before Bautista steps down in June 2019.
Aside from the school buildings, the Bautista administration has provided scholarships to the city’s honor students and students from indigent families and any city resident regardless of age who wants to finish their high-school studies through the Alternative Learning System, the Paiso said.
The Quezon City Scholarship and Youth Development Program (SYDP) also provides training in tech-voc courses, it added.
The city government has also established a scholarship program for specialized courses that started in 2017 to form a pool of experts in the fields of accountancy, environmental science/planning, urban and regional planning, urban economics, engineering, architecture, statistics, information and communications technology, social work and community development, child development, public health, public order and safety, urban sociology and foreign service/international studies to further strengthen the management of the Quezon City government, the Paiso said.
Bautista said the graduates of senior high schools could enroll in the city-owned Quezon City Polytechnic University (QCPU), which offers free tuition and affordable miscellaneous fees to qualified students.
As of this year, QCPU has a total of 5,397 students. Its main campus is along Quirino Highway, Barangay San Bartolome, while its two other campuses are found at the San Francisco High School compound in Barangay Santo Cristo and in Batasan Hills.
