The Antique provincial government will provide an initial 100 persons with disabilities (PWDs) in each of its 18 municipalities with educational assistance for the 2022-2023 school year.

Vice Governor Edgar Denosta said Tuesday that he would be working to provide more PWDs with the educational aid of PHP5,000 for college students and PHP6,000 for graduate students every semester.

The giving of assistance is part of the 44th National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation (NDPR) Week celebration, from July 18 to 23.

“I will lobby that the PWDs will be given allocation on the educational assistance so that they could also have opportunity to avail of the support,” he said.

He also instructed personnel of the Antique Provincial Disability Affairs Office (PDAO), which is under the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO), to survey the PWDs in college so they would be prioritized in the assistance.

Irish Manlapaz, head of the Antique Provincial Youth Development Office (PYDO) that is in charge of the educational assistance, said in a separate interview that 48 PWDs availed of the PHP5,000 per semester assistance last school year.

These PWDs, however, applied as part of the indigent college students for which the assistance was primarily intended since there was no specific allocation for the PWDs.

“This coming school year there will really be an allocation for PWDs,” she said, provided the student has no failing grades.

The PYDO has PHP120-million budget for educational assistance this coming school year.

The PWDs are also advised to submit their applications for educational assistance during the “PYDO-on-Wheels” or mobile processing of applications to be conducted in their respective towns.

But first, they will need to secure a PWD identification card issued by the Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officer of their respective towns. (PNA)