Some 2.2 million students are now benefiting from the Government Assistance and Subsidy for Private Education (GASTPE) program, which allows public school students to transfer to private schools with their tuition funded by the government, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said Saturday.
Angara made the disclosure in an interview on DZRH News program Special on Saturday on August 1, as part of the DZRH SONA 2026 Series featuring the Department of Education.
The GASTPE program is a major Philippine educational subsidy program governed by Republic Act No. 8545. It aims to reduce public school crowding and support private institutions through financial grants.
He noted that the GASTPE law was originally authored by his father, the late Senate President Edgardo J. Angara, and that the program has grown significantly since then.
“Malaki na ho ‘yung isinabatas ng tatay, ginagawa ngayon ng anak. Lumaki na ho ‘yung programa na ‘yun. There are millions, how many benefit? 2.2 million,” Angara said.
He said the voucher system allows a student named to enroll in a private school with the government paying the tuition, freeing up space in overcrowded public schools while expanding access to private education.
The program covers junior high school through senior high school transfers, with Undersecretary Edson Byron Sy confirming the government funds the tuition of qualifying students at accredited private institutions.
Angara said the GASTPE program reflects the administration’s broader philosophy that the quality of education a Filipino child receives should not depend on whether they attend a public or private school.
He said the expansion of GASTPE, alongside the one-student-one-textbook policy, the universal school feeding program, and the ARAL tutorial initiative, represents the administration’s effort to eliminate the distinction between public and private school experience for Filipino children.
