At least 55 participating private schools have been removed as partners of the Department of Education (DepEd) under the senior high school (SHS) voucher program amid concerns of inconsistencies and irregularities, including the alleged existence of “ghost students” disguised as beneficiaries.

DepEd Government Assistance and Subsidies Office director Atty. Tara Rama told the House committee on basic education and culture during Thursday’s hearing that the figure represents the total number of private schools flagged by the agency from as early as mid-2021 up to last year concerning the poor implementation of the voucher program.

Their contracts with DepEd have already been terminated.

"We started terminating, we had 22 schools. For School Year 2021-2022 that's 22. In February 2023, we terminated another 32 schools for School Year 2022-2023. That’s the scope of our findings. For 2023-2024, we already have one [school] terminated. And then another 12 are under investigation," she told the panel partly in Filipino.

Rama, however, refused to disclose the total number of private schools with “ghost students” or non-existent beneficiaries listed under the program, pending verification of the same. Currently, she said “ghost students” are classified into four categories.

“Though we already had a number of schools that were terminated—we started terminating February 2023—those schools have different findings. It's not just those students who don’t have school records or class attendance. But also those who are unqualified voucher recipients,” Rama stated.

Unqualified students are those who were categorized as automatic grantees by private schools despite not applying to the voucher application program, according to the DepEd official.

DepEd Department Order (DO) 46, series of 2015, set the guidelines for the implementation of the SHS voucher program. Admitting loopholes, Rama explained that the department subsequently issued DO No. 19, series of 2017, and DO No. 20, series of 2023, providing provisions and stringent safeguards to ensure the proper and efficient enforcement of the subsidy program.

Around P200 million in tuition subsidies were supposed to be disbursed to some private schools for SY 2023-2024, but it was put on hold after DepEd noticed “discrepancies” in billing statements, which are being verified through the learner information system.

Substantial Budget

Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo, the panel chair, revealed that a whopping P40 billion was earmarked under the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Act (E-GASTPE) in 2024 alone, with P27 billion of that allocated to the SHS voucher program.

The SHS voucher program provides financial assistance in the form of vouchers to qualified senior high school students who wish to enroll in private SHS or non-DepEd schools.

The subsidy is part of the government’s effort to decongest public schools following the implementation of K-12 in 2016. At the time, there was a lack of physical school buildings and facilities to accommodate SHS learners.

According to Rama, each participating private school has approximately 100 to 1,000 student beneficiaries, with the voucher ranging from P14,000 up to P22,500 depending on their category and the school’s location.

The House inquiry is a parallel probe into DepEd’s ongoing investigation of undocumented beneficiaries of the SHS program.

At least 12 private schools across nine regions are under scrutiny amid allegations of committing unlawful acts, such as falsification and perjury, for signing documents under oath.

DepEd confirmed that it is already considering filing criminal charges against the perpetrators and the subject private schools.

A previous report from the Commission on Audit revealed that there were 115 “ghost students” listed as beneficiaries under the SHS program for SY 2016-2017. They were billed multiple times.

In a Senate hearing last year, lawmakers discovered that the number of undocumented beneficiaries had jumped to 19,000, prompting an in-depth investigation.