Claim: The Department of Education (DepEd) will provide P10,000 in cash assistance to students from grade school to college.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The claim was made by the Facebook page “DepEd Scholars 2025,” which has 5,200 followers.
The post has 91 reactions, 179 comments, and 417 shares, as of writing.
The post, which displays DepEd’s official seal, urges the public to fill out an attached form. It lists a school ID or school card as one of the requirements for availing themselves of the alleged cash assistance.
The supposed application deadline is February 10, 2025.
The facts: The circulating social media posts on the education department’s alleged cash assistance program are fake.
DepEd also previously released several advisories to warn the public about these fake posts.
The link provided in the post does not redirect to the official DepEd website or any Philippine government webpage. Instead, it goes to a blogging site that asks individuals for their private information, including full name, birth date, mobile number, email address, and home address. These personal details may potentially be used for phishing scams. (READ: Phishing 101: How to spot and avoid phishing)
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DepEd assistance: Based on the DepEd Office of Undersecretary for Finance memo 2024-0010 previously sent to Rappler, the education department offers only the following government assistance and subsidy programs:
- Education Contracting Service program: This program offers subsidies for qualified junior high school learners in Grades 7 to 10 in participating schools.
- Senior High School (SHS) Voucher program: This program is for Grades 11 to 12 learners in participating private or non-DepEd public SHS.
- Joint Delivery Voucher Program: This program supports Grade 12 learners taking the technical-vocational livelihood (TVL) track in public senior high schools “which have been identified as having inadequate facilities, equipment, tools, and teachers relevant to the implementation of TVL specializations.”
Since education in public schools is free, there are no scholarships for public school students, according to the department.
Fact-checked: Several fact checks on supposed scholarship programs from various government agencies have also been published by Rappler:
- FACT CHECK: DepEd has no ‘Baon Program’
- FACT CHECK: DepEd doesn’t offer monthly allowance to elementary students
- FACT CHECK: DepEd doesn’t offer up to P10,000 scholarship via online forms
- FACT CHECK: DSWD does not have monthly allowance program for students
- FACT CHECK: Online DSWD page linking to aid form for education is fake
- FACT CHECK: No P5,000 to P8,000 aid for poor families from DSWD
For official updates on DepEd programs and services, refer to its official website and social media accounts on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube. – James Patrick Cruz/Rappler.com
Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com.