The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed the distribution of college subsidies or tertiary education subsidies (TES, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said.
Beneficiaries’ submission of documents and requirements were affected by the lockdowns and travel restrictions due to the pandemic, CHED Chair Prospero De Vera III told lawmakers.
“A lot of that really slowed down things early this year, and it continues to slow down things,” De Vera said.
“Any slowdown in the submission slows down the ability to evaluate documents and allocate the funds,” he added.
The CHED chair apologized to students, and state universities and colleges, saying the distribution of TES “was also hit badly by COVID because many of them were physically distributing the TES.” The delayed release of funds to CHED also contributed to the slow down, De Vera added.
“Humihingi ho kami ng paumanhin sa mga bata at mga eskuwelahan,” De Vera said.
(We apologize to students and schools.)
“This was affected principally also by the type of governmental transactions, as well as the competing needs for funds because of COVID,” he added.
Twenty of the country’s higher education institutions have already started classes between June and July. Some 186 others meanwhile are set to start classes in September until October.
De Vera said CHED has also launched a website where learning materials can be downloaded for faculties and students.
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