By Jennilyne O. Casimiro

San Fernando City, La Union (5 October) -- In a bid to address poverty among the poor, as highlighted in the 10-point agenda of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, two kinds of baccalaureate degree scholarships are being offered by the Department of Science and Technology for all poor but deserving students.

For school year 2007, DOST offers the Science and Technology Scholarships under Republic Act 7687 and the DOST-SEI Merit Scholarships nationwide.

Courses offered are within the field of study in sciences, mathematics and engineering in various CHED Centers of Excellence/Centers of Development, DOST-SEI identified institutions, state universities and colleges nationwide.

Interested applicants for the Science and Technology Scholarships RA 7687 must be poor, talented and deserving students who belong to a family whose socio-economic status does not exceed the set values of certain indicators as approved by the Advisory Committee on the S & T Scholarships.

For the DOST-SEI Merit Scholarship, any one can avail this regardless of families’ socio-economic status and must pay a P200.00 non-refundable test fee.

In both scholarships, applicants must be a member of the top five percent of the regular high school graduating class or a member of the graduating class of a DOST-SEI identified or DepEd-recognized science high school.

It is also a requirement that the applicant be a natural-born Filipino citizen; of good moral character and in good health; a resident of the municipality for the last 4 years as attested by the barangay/school records; and a qualifier of the 2007 S&T Scholarship Examination.

Among the scholarship privileges include tuition and other school fees not to exceed P4,500.00/semester/term; allowance for prescribed textbooks and essential school supplies at P3,000/academic year; outright grant for prescribed Military Science/Physical Education uniform of P500.00 for the first semester of the first year only.

There will also be a living allowance for a duration of 10-11 month of which amount is dependent on the course to be taken by the scholar ranging from P1,200 to P4,000 monthly and a group health and accident insurance.