The Negros Occidental provincial government is funding the education of 1,276 scholars under the 13 scholarship categories for the academic year 2024-2025.

Karen Dinsay, head of the Negros Occidental Scholarship Program Division, said on Friday some 445 new grantees have been approved by the scholarship committee during the meeting presided by Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson earlier this week.

“They will join the 831 continuing scholars. We continue to plant the seeds of hope in the hearts of poor but deserving Negrense students. In Negros Occidental, we do not wait for opportunities to knock, we create opportunities for our constituents,” Dinsay said in an interview.

The provincial government has allocated PHP90 million to fund its scholarship program, she added.

The additional grantees are those under the Pagkaon Scholarship Grant and Pagkaon-Food Technology, 50; Pagkaon-Degree Completion Scholarship, 25; District Educational Scholarship, 120; Degree Completion Scholarship, 40; Indigenous Peoples’ Scholarship, 70; Negros Occidental Provincial Medical and Nursing Scholarship, 10 (Medicine) and 20 (Nursing); and Midwifery Scholarship, 24.

Others are beneficiaries under the Provincial Educational Assistance to Capitol Employees, 40 (bachelor’s degree) and one (doctorate); Scholarship for Persons with Disabilities, 10; Scholarship for Children of Non-Returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), 30; and Degree Completion Scholarship for OFWs, five.(PNA)