📋 Tender Overview
ZAMBOANGA CITY (PIA) -- The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is expanding its scholarship and financial assistance programs to encourage more students to pursue agriculture, fisheries, and science courses that continue to suffer from declining enrollment. While education, business, and engineering remain top choices among students, CHED underscores the pressing need to strengthen enrollment in sectors that safeguard food security, support environmental resilience, and drive scientific advancement. Through expanded scholarships, the agency hopes to attract young Filipinos to courses that directly contribute to community and national progress, CHED said. One of CHEDs initiatives is the Medical Students Return Service (MSRS) program, which grants free medical education in return for service in underserved areas after graduation. For higher education faculty, the Scholarship for Instructors Knowledge Advancement Program (SIKAP) enables masters and doctorate studies to improve teaching quality and boost research productivity in colleges and universities. CHED also offers specialized undergraduate support including the Scholarship Program for Coconut Farmers and their Families, in partnership with the Philippine Coconut Authority, as well as grants for students pursuing mathematics and statistics. Meanwhile, the Merit Scholarship Program and the Tulong Dunong Program continue to provide financial aid to qualified students from both public and private institutions. These programs, according to CHED Project Technical Staff Crystal Rheene Avanzado, go beyond easing financial burdens-they are strategic investments in the countrys long-term development. Through these scholarships, we aim to motivate students to pursue courses that are vital for national development, she said. By aligning scholarship opportunities with the countrys priority needs, CHED hopes to cultivate academic excellence, inspire innovation, and produce a globally competitive Filipino workforce that can respond to emerging challenges in food, security, science, and technology. (JPA/MLE/MAI/PIA9-Zamboanga City)
