More poor students find employment – DOLE

MANILA, Philippines – More poor but deserving students have found temporary employment and earned money to pay for their education, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said a total of 137,833 poor students were hired in various public and government companies in the first eight months of the year.

“The 137,833 students represented 98.5 percent of the entire-year Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES) goal for 2012,” Baldoz said.

The SPES facilitates summer employment for poor but deserving students to enable them to continue their education.

“We only have 1.5 percent remaining to reach the 100 percent mark for SPES in the remainder of the year. We are confident the DOLE will surpass its target based on this achievement,” Baldoz added.

She noted that President Aquino substantially increased the SPES budget by P168.10 million in 2011, enabling SPES to accommodate 120,312 more poor, but deserving students in the country’s 16 regions.

In 2012, the SPES budget had been increased to P340,282,000.

Baldoz urged private sector employers to sustain their participation in the SPES hire more poor students this coming Christmas season.

Under the program, DOLE pays the students 40 percent of the prevailing minimum wage, while employers shoulder 60 percent.

The late President Corazon Aquino initiated the SPES to help poor students to finish their schooling.

“Under the (P-Noy) Aquino administration, the implementation of the SPES has been very transparent, benefiting more poor students intent on pursuing their education and attaining a productive future, while spurring a strong private-public sector cooperation to realize its noble goal of lifting Filipinos from the clutches of poverty,” Baldoz said. –Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)