FOR millennials interested to pursue higher studies to become a competent teacher, the Scholarships for Teacher Education Programs to Upgrade Teacher Quality in the Philippines (Step Up) recently announced the opening of its Certificate in Teaching Programs for 2017.
If admitted to the program, a student will get P140,000 annually worth of scholarship benefits. The scholarship package is composed of free tuition, P4,000 monthly stipend and P2,000 monthly dormitory allowance. Other benefits include graduation and miscellaneous fees, one-time relocation allowance, uniform allowance for every semester, practice teaching allowance, one-time return allowance, semestral book allowance, basic health assistance, professional mentoring and Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) review assistance.
To qualify for the program, applicants must be graduates of any bachelor’s degree, except BS Education, and must have at least a general weighted average of 85 percent in college, pass the LET, must not drop subjects and has a teaching experience in a public school for at least three years.
Supported by the Australian government, Step Up is a scholarship campaign by the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), a group that lobbied hard for the adoption of the K to 12 system of education.
The Basic Education Sector Transformation program seeks to attract good-performing college graduates and professionals into the teaching profession by offering them competitive scholarship packages.
A total of 1,000 scholarships will be awarded to deserving candidates between the years of 2015 and 2019. The goal of the program is to produce 1,000 high-quality teachers ready for public-school employment by 2019.