OVER P941 million worth of educational assistance has been released to more than 375,000 students, the Department of Social Welfare and Development said.

“Despite po nung rough start natin, masaya po tayong ibalita sa ating mga kababayan na 375,485 na mga kliyente ‘yung ating mga naabot, at sa kabuuan ito po ay P941.46 million ang ating tala matapos ng September 12 payout,” Romel Lopez, DSWD spokesperson and assistant secretary, said.

Last Saturday, the department distributed P35 million to 13,842 students in geographically and isolated and disadvantaged areas.

Lopez said that not all students who applied online and received text confirmation will receive the cash assistance from the educational aid program.

“Subject po ito sa availability of funds, so it doesn’t mean na kapag kayo ay nakapag online register at nakatanggap ng confirmation ay kayo automatically makakatanggap ng ating educational assistance, kasi nga po ito ay dadaan sa proseso ng assessment,” he explained.

Up to 400,000 poor students are expected to benefit from the educational cash support program which was allotted a budget of P1.5 billion.

The DSWD received around 2 million applications for the educational assistance program.

The financial assistance will be available until September 24, 2022.