Holy Cross College distributed the Tertiary Education Subsidy (TES) for the last semester of the academic year 2019-2020 at the school grounds while observing health and safety measures.
TES is a grant from Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) which is a mandate under the Republic Act 10931 or Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.
“Ang purpose ng TES ay tulungan iyong mga estudyante na makapagpatuloy sa pag-aaral very clear sa batas, it is intended for the education of the students. It shall be used to subsidize education, for tuition fee, pambili ng libro, pambayad ng boarding house, and other expenses related to education,” CHED Regional Chief Education Program Specialist, Lora Yusi said.
She reminded students and parents to make good use of the refund to help them in their flexible learning during this pandemic.
“Nade-defeat ang purpose ng TES if it will used na pambili ng pagkain, pambili ng cellphone can be justified ngayon because of online class it if will used for flexible learning puwede. Pero kung for example pamp-rebond, hindi pwede kasi ganito iyong batas, it is intended for education purpose. Hindi po iyan pampagawa ng bahay or bubong naiintidihan po natin pangangailan ng mga magulang, we encourage the parents to use the money for educational purpose,” she explained.
Mary Ann Cordova, mother of a third-year student was among those parents who are present during the TES refund. Parents are required to be with their child to sign the MOA
“Iyong mga nakuha niya magagamit pong pangload sa online classes niya. Maganda po na agad nila nakukuha yung TES. Maraming maraming salamat po malaking tulong po sa mga nag-aaral,” she said.
The grant is 6 months delayed due to the pandemic but the school still managed to dispense the subsidy to 931 student grantees for the second semester of the academic year 2019-2020.
Arnold Robelo is one of the grantees and currently taking his second year in Bachelor of Arts in Hotel Management. He said that TES is never too late because it can still help him in his studies amid the pandemic.
“Malaking tulong po iyong TES sa amin, hindi na po ako naghihingi sa parents ko ng pang-load, pang-gastos ko po para sa pag-aaral ko,” he said.
To avoid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the school decided to have a scheduled distribution of subsidies. Students and parents underwent strict health monitoring and a step-by-step process from Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signing before they can get their refund.
MAY TES KA NA MAY PAGKAIN KA PA!
Grantees were also given FREE snacks during their visit to the institution for the TES distribution.
