- Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) launched the PHP 510 million INSPIRE program to expand access to quality basic and tertiary education nationwide.
- The program provides PHP 437.5 million for scholarships covering tuition, living allowances, and study materials for students in critical courses, supporting at least 350 scholars in the first year.
- PHP 72.5 million will be used to upgrade public school infrastructure and learning facilities in coordination with DepEd, enhancing programs like 'Adopt a School' and 'Brigada Eskwela'.
The Development Bank of the Philippines launched a PHP 510 million corporate social responsibility initiative to expand access to quality basic and tertiary education in all parts of the country. Dubbed the DBP Integrated Scholastic Program for Inclusive and Responsive Education, INSPIRE is a five-year program designed to augment government moves to enhance educational attainment and human capital.
Under the program, DBP will grant about PHP 437.5 million for scholarships to financially needy students who wish to pursue critical courses of study like engineering and its allied courses, accountancy, education, agriculture and forestry, sciences, maritime, information technology, and technical vocational courses.
It would provide funding for tuition and matriculation fees, living allowances including food and lodging, study materials, including books and uniforms, and other miscellaneous school fees. During the first year of the implementation of the program, at least 350 scholars are expected to be supported under this component.
Meanwhile, approximately PHP 72.5 million of the said programme’s funding will be used to upgrade infrastructure and learning facilities in public schools in coordination with the Department of Education (DepEd). This leg of the programme seeks to assist DepEd’s 'Adopt a School' and 'Brigada Eskwela' programs through enhancing classroom facilities and providing necessary learning equipment in roughly 150 public elementary and high schools.
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DBP President and CEO Michael O. de Jesus said the INSPIRE program demonstrates the bank’s interest in the education sector to carry out the order of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to place education at the top of the country’s development agenda.
The partner institutions for the scholarship component are Bulacan State University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Cebu Normal University, University of Cebu, Mindanao State University Iligan Institute of Technology, and Zamboanga State College of Marine Science and Technology.
This new project follows DBP's previous educational CSR programs: the DBP Endowment for Education Program (DEEP) and the DBP Resources for Inclusive and Sustainable Education (RISE). Both these earlier programs collectively invested approximately PHP 1.5 billion over 15 years and assisted over 5,000 scholars, producing respective employment outcomes of 94 % and 96 %.
DBP seeks to create a more comprehensive education pipeline from basic to higher education by matching scholarship grants to tertiary students with investments in facilities and resources for public schools. The bank has also reiterated that it will continue to coordinate closely with relevant government agencies and partner institutions to ensure the strategic deployment and optimization of resources under the INSPIRE program.
