College offers courses "responsive" to needs of Pangasinan

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The provincial government-run Pangasinan Polytechnic College (PPC) will be starting its first school year this August with an initial four courses to be offered to 400 qualified scholars of the province.

Pangasinan Provincial Administrator Melicio Patague II, in an interview on Wednesday, said the PPC will be offering Bachelor of Multimedia Arts, Bachelor of Science in Agri-Business, Bachelor of Public Administration Major in Local Governance, and Bachelor of Special Needs Education.

These courses have already been approved by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), he said.

“These courses are responsive to the needs of the province,” he added.

CHED-Ilocos Region Director Dr. Christine Nabor-Ferrer earlier told the Philippine News Agency that the school’s focus is to offer programs that are not duplicates of those being offered by nearby higher education institutions.

She said that while multimedia arts and agri-business courses are being offered in Pangasinan State University (PSU) campuses in Asingan and Sta. Maria towns, these institutions are located at the eastern part of the province, and not in central Pangasinan.

“Agri-business is one course that will be helpful in community development especially since in Pangasinan agriculture is a major industry, while the special needs education is not yet being offered in the province,” she added.

Around 1,405 incoming college students have applied to take the PPC entrance exams set on July 15 and 16. Results will be released on July 24 to 26.

PPC students will enjoy free tuition and free miscellaneous fees, after the provincial government allocated almost PHP4.4 million for these.

PPC targets to start classes on Aug. 24, but its technical-vocational school, the Center for Lifelong Learning (CeLL), started offering courses last April.

About a hundred students from Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps) member-families were the first scholars of CeLL.

The PPC campus and the CeLL facility are located at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center in this town.