Kidapawan LGU to release P7M as educational support fund

KIDAPAWAN CITY – The city government is set to release some P7 million as educational assistance to at least 35,000 public elementary and high school students enrolled in school year 2015-2016. City Mayor Joseph Evangelista, chair of the Local School Board, announced the release in a meeting with the Federation of the Parents Teachers Association (FPTA). Each pupil will receive P200 as payment for PTA dues, he said. The fund release, however, will depend on how quick the PTAs submit their liquidation of last school year’s financial subsidy. Next year, Evangelista said he plans to give additional P100 to each beneficiary or a funding of about P10.5 million. With the fund support to the PTA, Evangelista said each school can propose any project without actually collecting fees from their students. Meantime, the city mayor has warned to delist as beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) those parents who would send their children in the farm instead of attending classes. Evangelista, in a statement, said that he received disturbing reports that several children whose parents are 4Ps beneficiaries have been absent from classes because they were told to work in the farm. This, the mayor said, is a big ‘no’ for 4Ps. One of the main objectives of the programs, according to him, is to ensure that children of 4Ps beneficiaries are attending classes so they could complete their secondary education.