DAGUPAN CITY - Some 58,000 scholarships were allocated by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo throughout the country to enable the youth to enroll in technical-vocational courses that will earn them jobs right after graduation and a chance to finish college in a shorter period of time.

This was revealed by Technical Education Skills Development Authority Director General Augusto Syjuco who spearheaded a Career Caravan that arrived in Dagupan on Thursday.

Each scholar is entitled to P5,000, he said, as he announced that the scholarships are already valid during the second semester of the school year this October, during summer or at the start of the new school year, 2007-2008.

At least P1 million worth of scholarships were distributed by Syjuco to individual scholars in Pangasinan during the Career Caravan’s stop over here, its first in the north.

The fund was boosted with another P1.5 million donated for the program by Rep. Generoso Tulagan of the third district and P1 million each by Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. of the fourth district and Rep. Arthur Celeste of the first district of Pangasinan totaling P3.5 million.

The donation will be matched by similar P3.5 million by TESDA, all for scholarships on technical-vocational courses in Pangasinan.

Syjuco explained the Career Caravan intends to reach out the broad masses of the people to inform them of what the government is doing in order to solve the nagging problem of unemployment and make way for a more secured future for the youth.

With the scholarships, the recipients can now enrol in technical-vocational courses in partner schools to boost their skills training for them to find employment right after graduation.

Syjuco said with the ladderized system of education already in place, the student who is now earning money at job sites will earn at least two years of college credits.

This is his ticket to ascend to the next ladder by enroling in third year of a four-year college education.

Calling ladderized education as people empowerment, Syjuco said it is in the hands of the peole where their success in life really lies.

With the ladderizd program, he said, no Filipino can say he was so poor that he never had a chance to obtain education.

“The empowerment is the scholarship. And after that, it is up for you to ascend as high as you wish,” Syjuco said. (PNA)