Tacloban City (June 20) -- No less than one hundred young students of the Las Navas Agro Industrial School received Pangulong Gloria Scholarship vouchers during the visit of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in Northern Samar on June 16, 2009.

The young scholars expressed their gratitude to President Arroyo for initiating such project. In the morning of June 16, the scholars enthusiastically formed one line near the venue of the Regional Media Interview, in order to get a glimpse of their beloved President.

In line with the Economic Resiliency Program of Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Pangulong Gloria Scholarships provides free training, training support fund and free competency assessment to support job creation and job preservation.

As of May 2009, Region VIII has a total of 8,408 Pangulong Gloria Scholarship beneficiaries who are enrolled in different Tech-Voc Schools in the region, Director Sabulao informed.

For the Province of Northern Samar, there are 2,012 scholarship beneficiaries so far.

The Pangulong Gloria Scholarship Program aims to produce a pool of qualified and globally competent workers who are job ready, TESDA Region 8 Director Juan M. Sabulao Jr. said.

The Scholarship Program also hopes to develop skills and competencies of the unemployed and underemployed through training programs for pre-employment, skills upgrading and productivity enhancement.