By Ven Arigo
Many poor sons and daughters who have the talent and potential to be useful Bohol citizens now cling to study grants as their best hope in this time of crisis that has pushed quality education seemingly beyond reach.
Their diligence and talents luckily cannot go to waste because there are educational programs that prepare them for a well-deserved future, according to Rep. Edgar Chatto.
A youth and education champion, the lawmaker secured in Congress allocations for various approaches like full scholarship, study grants and educational assistance.
Grateful parents have hailed Chatto's effort, feeling in no other hard time the value of aided education.
They have themselves known of fellow parents who have started to bite their lips despite their having the purse.
Chatto has linked with right agencies like the Commission on Education (CHED), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Two more scholarship grants were lately offered to college students in the newest tie-up of the solon and DOST.
Securing funds for the Special Study Grant Program for Congressional District (SSGPCD) thru CHED is included in his priority.
Many diligent and talented young Boholanos have accessed to higher educational institutions (HEIs) and state universities and colleges (SUCs), pursuing four-year courses which their parents could not have afforded.
The Central Visayas State College of Agriculture, Forestry and Technology is an institutional witness to the convenience of its enrollees who enjoy the privilege thru Chatto, confided CVSCAFT Scholarship Coordinator Luzviminda Ganas.
Another Chatto initiative, the Congressional Barangay Scholarship Program (CBSP), serves the children of barrio officials.
This is an alternative to the barangay scholarship otherwise mandated by the Local Government Code but which is currently undergoing mechanics refinement for smoother and effective implementation.
Ganas said a new crop of deserving students will soon benefit from another program called the Student Assistance for Education (SAFE).
Its execution scheme is awaiting final CHED approval en route to the study aid's implementation hopefully starting next school year.
SAFE prioritizes fresh enrollees of courses in agriculture, forestry, agro-business, environment, teacher's education and engineering at CVSCAFT, envisioned to become the Bohol Island State University which is the first and only of its kind in the province.
The state school's scholarship coordinator heralded SAFE to cause the revival of interest in courses that directly or indirectly relate to food production.
Ganas wearily observed the evaporating motivation to study farm science, which is otherwise more relevant today.