Aklan’s poor students work this summer for school tuition

Kalibo, Aklan – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) here, in coordination with the provincial government, has once more opened an opportunity to poor students to work this summer so they will have money for enrolment this school year.

The scheme is called Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES).

SPES, according to Vivian R. Solano, Provincial Employment Service Office (PESO) Manager here, is better known as Summer Job and was approved by the Senate on February 6, 1992 and now being implemented yearly.

Aklan Governor Carlito Marquez said the summer job is an opportunity for students to work in local government units and schools so they could earn money from the DOLE and the provincial government to help augment their financial needs come school opening.

At a meeting of SPES coordinators of the different towns, summer jobs were equally divided among the 17 towns and 2 schools within 30 working days which started Aprill 11 and would end May 25.

Marlyn Hernandez, DOLE Regional SPES Focal Person emphasized that students and SPES coordinators must complete registration requirements before submission to DOLE office in Iloilo City.

Solano revealed that some 4,790 Aklanon students had been helped and more are still being helped in their studies by this project through the DOLE, provincial government and PESO-Aklan.

It is seen that with this sustained program of the national and provincial government of helping poor but deserving students obtain college education, poverty in the countryside will be lessened and these young people will have better chances of finding employment.

In a recent statement of Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo, he revealed that the incidence of poverty in the country has continuously been decreasing due to the bullish economy and the progress-oriented and pro-poor programs under the Arroyo administration.

Saludo said over three million Filipinos have so far risen from extreme poverty since 2000, citing a report by the World Bank, the world’s leading institution for development.

The WB estimates that by the end of this year, only some 8.4 percent of Filipinos would be living on a dollar a day – the standard by which the said institution measures poverty. (Venus G. Villanueva/PIA)