Iskolar ng Marawi continues to aid displaced students

A student receives the first tranche of his allowance for the school year 2022-2023 under the Iskolar ng Marawi program. (Jason Casas/PIA-10/Lanao del Sur)

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur (PIA)--Some 2,000 students here continue to benefit from the Iskolar ng Marawi program of the city government.

The program was launched in 2018 to help poor but deserving Marawi-based students from elementary to college level to continue their education upon coming back home after the 2017 siege.

Scholars are granted a maximum stipend of P4,000 for elementary level, P7,000 for high school, and P9,000 for college per school year to defray their tuition fees, transportation allowance, books, uniforms, and miscellaneous fees.

Mayor Majul Gandamra said the program runs for five years with a budget of P10 million per year.

Gandamra said the Iskolar ng Marawi is also intended to be a tool for instilling the love of peace among the youth so that they will choose peaceful existence over violent extremism.

It also aspires to serve as a means of improving youths' employability as soon as they are ready to join the workforce.

The mayor is proud to hear that the program has brought positive impacts to its beneficiaries. He said scholars reported that they are now more confident to do well in their studies because of the relative ease the scholarship allowance gives to them.

Because of this, Gandamra said the Iskolar ng Marawi has been shortlisted as one of the candidates for the LGUs’ Grant Assistance on Innovative Practices (LGAIP) of the BARMM government.

"Hopefully should this project win in the LGAIP, LGU Marawi will be able to expand the Iskolar ng Marawi to benefit more deserving yet financially disadvantaged students thus ensuring a brighter future not only for the youth but also for the entire city," he said. (APB/PIA-10/Lanao del Sur)

Beneficiaries of the Iskolar ng Marawi wait for the completion of the verification of their status. The verification was held on November 16-18, 2022 to ensure the smooth release of the 1st tranche allowance of students for the school year 2022-2023. (Jason Casas/PIA-10/Lanao del Sur)

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1,000 Iskolar ng Marawi receive allowance

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur--One thousand (1,000) beneficiaries of the Iskolar ng Marawi program are set to receive their allowance this week under the city government's scholarship program.

A flagship program of Mayor Majul Gandamra, the Iskolar ng Marawi program was launched in 2018 to grant scholarships to deserving displaced students of the city.

Prof. Johana Gandamra-Tanggo, Marawi Scholarship Program chairperson, said the program which will run for five years has a total of 2,000 beneficiaries.

The scholars consist of 1,500 elementary students, 300 high school students, and 200 college students enrolled in different private or public schools in Marawi City starting from the school year 2018-2019 and thereafter.

Under the program, the scholars will get a grant amounting to a maximum of P4,000.00 for each elementary pupil, P7,000.00 for each high school student, and P9,000.00 for each college student per school year to defray tuition fee, transportation allowance, books, uniform, and miscellaneous fees.

On Tuesday, employees of the city government handling the program processed and released P4,900.00 each to parents of scholars from Grades 7 and 8 representing the last tranche of their allowance for school year 2020-2021. The allowance covers the months November 202o to May 2021.

Parents of the scholars are grateful for the assistance saying the allowance is a big help considering the financial constraints they are facing amidst the pandemic. Accordingly, some students used their allowance to buy internet load for their online classes.

"Malaking tulong ito sa amin kahit papaano ay bawas gastos namin. Lahat po ng mga parents dito ay nagpapasalamat sa ibinibigay nilang tulong gaya ng scholar. Magagamit namin para sa pambili ng mga gamit sa school," said parent Saifoden Guro from Brgy Moriatao Luksadatu during the releasing held at city hall compound.

[This is a big help to us as it will somehow reduce our expenses. All the parents here are grateful for the help that they extended such as the scholarship. We can use it to buy school supplies.]

Nasheba Calauto, a parent from Brgy. Basak Malutlot, also expressed gratitude for the scholarship which she said has somehow assisted in the education of her child.

The distribution of allowance for Iskolar ng Marawi is one of the activities lined up for the Marawi Week of Peace from May 17-23, 2021. The weeklong observance is anchored on the theme "Peace Starts with Us: Give, Work, and Share."

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