EDUCATION tech start-up Edukasyon.ph and De La Salle University (DLSU) Science Foundation recently launched Project Layag, a nationwide online scholarship program that aims to provide greater access to affordable educational opportunities for the youth.
Henry Motte-Muñoz, Edukasyon.ph CEO and founder, and Br. Armin Luistro, FSC, De La Salle Philippines president and former Department of Education (DepEd)secretary, led the launch by signing a memorandum of agreement solidifying their intent to bring Project Layag into fruition.
“To make this a reality,” Motte-Muñoz said, “We should help students find the right education. But there is no point telling someone what’s the perfect course or school for them if they simply cannot afford it,” he said during the launch held in Makati City.
Project Layag aims to combine all existing scholarship opportunities on a free and easily accessible online platform so that deserving students, even from far-flung areas, will be more aware of their options and what they can do to make their future a reality.
Motte-Muñoz said over 26 higher education institutions, foundations and scholarship providers have already pledged their support for Project Layag, such as Insular Life Foundation and The Phimna Foundation.
By making the search and application process of scholarships more convenient, Project Layag aims to empower students by giving them options, in the hopes of helping them reach their goals.
As of 2018, Motte-Muñoz said Edukasyon.ph has been visited by over a million students who search and apply for senior high schools, colleges and scholarship opportunities. Through Project Layag, the partner initiative aims to reach over 500,000 scholars who actively utilize the scholarship platform to search and apply for scholarship opportunities.
Through Project Layag’s assistance, he said, more students will be able to access better educational opportunities at their fingertips, along with ways on how they can be more informed about their chosen career paths and what they can do to reach those dreams.
“There’s a lot of deserving scholars and there’s a lot of funding,” said Motte-Muñoz. “We think this is the right time to try to bridge this supply and demand and…match the donors with the students.”
Aside from supporting marginalized students, Project Layag will also help deserving students from remote areas who are either unable to further their studies due to financial constraints or are misinformed about the lack of preexisting educational opportunities that await them.
This, along with a need for wide-reaching access to university programs, was also one of the reasons the DepEd pushed through with the K to 12 program.
“Students in the Philippines just need information [at] their fingertips,” Luistro said, “so that they will be able to access what can be a game changer for them.”