A puzzler in DepEd’s voucher program

My daughter, an incoming Grade 12 student in a private school, recently applied for the Department of Education’s voucher program. We were delighted when we receive an e-mail from the department advising us that our application had been approved.

However, upon verification from the Private Education Assistance Committee, we were told that our daughter is no longer qualified because the voucher is only applicable to incoming Grade 11 students. We did not know this—and I cannot grasp the logic behind this “ruling.”

So a Grade 12 student, who will pay tuition just like the previous year when she was in Grade 11, is considered ineligible for the voucher program because…? If the reason is that the amount of assistance is only given once and is valid for two years, then why not have the option to give it annually and halve the amount? What is the reason for this inflexibility?

In the meantime, why not just bar Grade 12 applicants from DepEd’s online process? Why waste our time and effort completing DepEd requirements when we are ineligible in the first place?

If the purpose of the voucher program is to ease the burden of the two-year senior HS program on parents, then why does DepEd make it difficult for parents to avail themselves of this? I hope DepEd will reconsider this present ruling and help more parents benefit from this program.

BARBARA F. GUALVEZ,
Barangay Kaligayahan,
Novaliches, Quezon City