DEPED, Taguig City — Following the discovery of ghost students included as enrollees for the Department of Education (DepEd)'s Senior High School (SHS) Voucher Program, private schools found to be involved in the irregularities were kicked out of the program due to questionable claims.

During a hearing of the House committee on basic education and culture, DepEd project manager Tara Rama revealed that a total of 55 private schools were removed from the program since February 2021 due to discrepancies in their billing information and the learners information system (LIS).

Rama said that "when (they) started terminating, (there were) 22 schools for SY 2021-2022, (then) in February 2023, another 32 schools were terminated for SY 2022-2023 and for 2023-2024, one was terminated and 12 more are under investigation."

Asked on how much vouchers were left to waste, the education official replied that DepEd withheld at least ₱v200 million in funding.

"Starting SY 2023-2024, ito 'yung ginawa natin sa Department of Education—when the private schools submit their billing statements, before natin binabayaran, dinadaan natin sa LIS. Kapag ang billing statement ay hindi tumugma sa LIS, hindi natin siya dinisburse. Hinold natin ang payment," she noted.
"For SY 2023-2024, around

200 million ang 'di natin ni-release kasi may discrepancy (For SY 2023-2024, we withheld about ₱200 million because of discrepancies)," she added.

According to Rama, some private schools have also made claims for students who enrolled in their respective institutions but later transferred to public schools.

"May ganung mga situation. Nationwide, iyon ang na-hold because of discrepancy. We cannot say for sure na ito ay ghost students lahat," she disclosed.