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SONA 2025: Marcos boasts more TESDA scholarships, priority aid for 4Ps students

President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. during his State of the Nation Address on Monday touted major strides in the country's higher education sector, highlighting the expansion of TESDA scholarships, and financial aid for poor families. In his fourth SONA, Marcos reaffirmed his administration's commitment to making both college and technical-vocational education more accessible, especially for disadvantaged youth. 'Dumami din ang nabigyan ng scholarships sa TESDA. Nito lamang 2024, higit pa sa dalawandaang libo ang nadagdag na mga scholarships para sa TechVoc,' Marcos said. (The number of TESDA scholarships has grown. Just in 2024, over 200,000 new Technical-Vocational scholarships were added.) The President emphasized that students from Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) households will be given higher priority in entering college over the next three years. 'Sa mga kasama naman sa Listahanan at 4Ps: itong susunod na tatlong taon, bibigyan natin ng mataas na prayoridad ang mga anak ninyong tutungtong sa kolehiyo,' he said. (For families under the Listahanan and 4Ps: over the next three years, your children entering college will be given top priority.) Marcos noted that more than two million students currently benefit from free public college education, with 260,000 additional scholars added under his term. 'Taon-taon, mahigit dalawang milyong estudyante ang nakakapag-aral ng libreng kolehiyo... Dinagdagan pa natin ng dalawang daan at animnapung libong estudyante ang nakinabang dito,' Marcos reported. (Each year, over two million students benefit from free college education... and under our administration, we added 260,000 more beneficiaries.) For 2026, nearly ?60 billion has been allocated for free tuition and subsidies in public colleges and Tech-Voc programs. Marcos celebrated the country's rise in higher education participation, citing that the Philippines now ranks second in ASEAN in terms of youth enrollment in college and technical-vocational training. 'Napakataas ngayon ng bilang ng kabataan nating pumasok sa kolehiyo at sa TESDA. Pilipinas na ang pumapangalawa sa buong ASEAN,' he said. (We now have a very high number of youth enrolled in college and TESDA. The Philippines is now second in all of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.) He also lauded the increasing global recognition of local universities and colleges. From just 22 in 2022, 114 Philippine higher education institutions are now recognized internationally, with 68 of them being public schools. To reward academic excellence, Marcos introduced the Presidential Merit Scholarships for top-performing high school graduates. 'Bilang natatanging pagkilala, gagawaran natin ng Presidential Merit Scholarships ang mga high school graduates na makakakuha ng Highest Honors,' he said. (As a special recognition, we will award Presidential Merit Scholarships to high school graduates who receive Highest Honors.) — RF, GMA Integrated News