DOST not getting sufficient funding for scholarship grants – COA

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is not getting sufficient funding from the government to finance its scholarship grants, the 2010 report of the Commission on Audit (COA) said.

The department has been having problems financing the scholarship grants of 2,842 students for the past several years because of budget constraints, despite repeated requests for additional funding.

Because of this, COA has recommended that granting scholarships be stopped until funding is available.

State auditors said the Science Education Institute (SEI), one of the line agencies of the DOST, awarded scholarship contracts totaling P164.855 million for 2,842 scholars without available funds.

“The unfunded scholarship contracts resulted in delayed payments of the allowances and/or benefits of the scholars, thus endangering the continuity of their scholarship,” COA said in the report.

Records show that SEI received P364.8 million last year to support 6,290 scholars with annual allowances of P58,000 each.

COA said the actual number of SEI scholars for the year reached 9,132, in excess of the targeted number by 2,842 scholars.

“With 9,132 actual number of scholars, SEI should have an appropriation of P529,656,000,” the audit report said.

COA said as early as September 2010, there were not enough funds to meet the costs of tuition, stipend, books and transportation allowances of the 9,132 scholars for the remaining quarter of the year, amounting to P190.5 million including the benefits and allowances of 168 scholars under the Science Education Consortium.

COA said SEI asked for additional funding from the DOST and the Senate during the hearing of its budget and was granted financial augmentation to cover the deficit of P172.7 million.

However, the money was only released this year, “causing undue delay and inconvenience to scholars during their study, endangering the continuity of their scholarship.”

COA said SEI’s funding problems started in 2008 when the actual number of scholars exceeded the target number of scholars provided in the appropriation, which resulted in shortfalls in 2008, 2009 and 2010 in the amounts of P5.61 million, P232.83 million and P164.86 million, respectively.

‘SEI also to blame’

State auditors said SEI is also to be faulted for its budget problems because it lacks a careful study of the financial requirements for its scholarship program.

“The budget proposal was inadequate or not sufficient for almost three years now and the situation may exist even in the succeeding years,” COA said.

The report showed that from 2006 to 2010, SEI’s fund for scholarship grants has been operating on the same budget of P364.8 million even as the number of scholars increased annually.

SEI defended itself, pointing out that it is supposed to enlist at least two scholars in each municipality and at least ten scholars from congressional districts without municipalities as mandated by the Science and Technology Scholarship Act of 1994.

COA said SEI should study the financial requirements of the scholarship program, taking into account the number of scholars and the cost of benefits to be able to adjust the budget accordingly.

It also recommended that SEI should refrain from awarding scholarship contracts without available funds, as mandated by the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines.

Lagging behind

Despite government efforts to improve the quality of Science and Technology education in the country, Filipinos lag behind other countries in competitiveness in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering.

According to the Congressional Commission on Science and Technology, and Engineering (COMSTE), the competitiveness of the Philippines has fallen from 47 in 2001 to 77 in 2007 out of 117 countries evaluated in international assessment tests.

COMSTE noted that less than half of college freshmen enroll in science courses despite the establishment of science high schools.

It also noted that many math and science teachers in public schools did not even major in the subjects. There are also more teachers with baccalaureate degrees in education than in math and science. –Michael Punongbayan (The Philippine Star)