An official of the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) under the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Thursday said beneficiaries of the Government Internship Program (GIP) have been expanded to include junior high school students.

In an interview on Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon, BLE officer-in-charge Assistant Secretary Patrick Patriwirawan said the internship has also been extended to up to one year.

“So far, our regional offices continue to implement the GIP. Among our new features, we have now extended the implementation to our beneficiaries for up to one year, and even junior high school (students), who we did not include previously, are now included in the implementation of the GIP,” he said in Filipino.

The GIP provides monthslong internship opportunity for high school, technical-vocational, or college graduates who want to pursue a career in public service in either local or national government.

The program aims to offer young individuals an opportunity to gain hands-on experience within various government agencies.

At present, the GIP has 43,658 interns, Patriwirawan said.

“One of the steps we are taking is to continue to communicate with other national government agencies, including LGUs (local government units)… where we deploy interns to gain work experience,” he added.

Meanwhile, regarding the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES), Patriwirawan said in the same interview that they have so far recorded 87,588 beneficiaries this year.

“Last year, we hit 102,973 beneficiaries. This year, we are expected to exceed the 100,000 target,” he said.

The SPES program provides temporary employment to financially challenged students, out-of-school youth, and dependents of displaced workers during their school breaks. Beneficiaries usually go through screening process based on submitted documents to determine if they really belong to low-income families.

At present, there are 1,200 to 1,400 private sector companies participating in the implementation of SPES.

Patriwirawan said they have been lobbying for a continuous increase in budget so that the program can accommodate more beneficiaries. (PNA)