OWWA invites 4th year HS dependents of OFWS to apply for scholarship

by Lito Dar

Baguio City (28 August) — The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) is calling on fourth year high school students who are dependent of active Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) to apply for the OWWA Education for Development Scholarship Program (EDSP).

This was reiterated by OWWA OIC Regional Director Evelyn Laranang during the launching of the regional search of the 2010 Model OFW Family of the Year Award (MOFYA) last week.

According to Laranang, the EDSP is open to all fourth year high school who is either a child of a married OFW or a brother/sister of a single or unmarried OFW, and active OWWA member.

The top 150 examiners for this year’s qualifying examination nationwide will be included as OWWA EDSP scholars.

‘Application for the qualifying examination is already available at the OWWA regional office or can be downloaded from the OWWA website – www.owwa.gov.ph. Deadline for submission is September 30,’ Laranang said.

Last year, six students from the region – one each from Baguio and Benguet and four from Kalinga, qualified for the scholarships. Four of them are now enrolled at the Saint Louis University, one at the University of Baguio and one enrolled in a university in Manila. At present, OWWA-CAR maintains 29 EDSP scholars for the region.

EDSP provides a P60,000 per year or P30,000 per semester scholarship assistance to qualified scholars, who can enroll in any four to five years baccalaureate course in any Commission on Higher Education (CHED)- accredited higher education institution in the country.

For the documentary requirements, applicants need to show an OWWA membership certification for their OFW benefactor, a birth certificate (for a child of an OFW) and birth certificate of both the applicant and his OFW brother or sister (if the applicant is a sibling of a single OWWA member OFW), a certification from their school (for good moral character and certification that they belong to the high school graduating batch), an a health certificate.

The applications can be submitted to the OWWA regional office located at Private Road, Magsaysay Avenue, Baguio City or can be endorsed through the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) provincial offices.

For more details and information, interested applicants can call OWWA-CAR at telephone numbers 445-2260 or 300-3658.

Meanwhile, Laranang also reiterated OWWA’s call on any non-government organization, people’s organization (POs), religious organizations or associations, community-based socio-civic organizations/associations, and local government units all throughout the region, to send in their nominations for the 2010 Regional Search for the Most Outstanding OFW Family of the Year Awards (MOFYA). Deadline for nominations is on September 17.

The MOFYA search is a yearly activity of OWWA where two winners will be chosen by a Regional Screening and Selection Committee, one each from the land- based and the sea-based OFW category.

The regional winners will then compete with the winners in the 16 other regions, for the National Model OFW Family of the Year Award. (PIA)