DepEd Secretary Angara Overhauls the Senior High Voucher Program — Here's What's Changing
Education Secretary Sonny Angara is shaking up the Senior High School voucher program, and this time the focus is on making sure it actually reaches the students who need it most — not the ones gaming the system.
Angara convened the 351st meeting of the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) on Thursday to discuss reforms aimed at keeping the voucher program corruption-free while better aligning the priorities of public and private schools. "Sa ngayon, nakatutok tayo sa pagpapabuti at pagpapalawig ng implementasyon ng ating voucher programs sa bansa," the DepEd chief said.
One of the biggest changes: new guidelines for the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (E-GASTPE) will now prioritize students from middle-income and low-income households. The move signals a shift toward making the program more equitable rather than a blanket subsidy that benefits everyone equally regardless of financial need.
But Angara isn't stopping at vouchers. He also convened DepEd's National Management Committee to review how teachers are evaluated during classroom observations. The department is developing a new "Teacher Growth and Performance" framework that aims to reduce unnecessary stress during evaluations while still holding teachers accountable. Under the proposed system, teacher performance will be assessed through four components: learner evidence, professional artifacts, collaboration and professional engagement, and a single classroom observation.
The dual-track reform agenda — fixing student aid while improving teacher support — suggests Angara is trying to address two of DepEd's most persistent headaches at once. Whether the reforms survive bureaucratic inertia remains to be seen, but at least the conversation is moving in the right direction.
Source: GMA News
