by PNA
A 42 year-old fish ball vendor here, who earlier went viral in the social media for striving to complete junior high school despite his age, has received a scholarship commitment from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
Rafael Abrogar II, TESDA-Region 12 director, personally handed over a certificate of scholarship commitment to vendor Jolito Angkoy during the completion ceremony on Monday morning of the Koronadal National Comprehensive High School (KNCHS) held at the South Cotabato gymnasium.
The scholarship certificate, with an enlarged replica given to Angkoy during the ceremony, named him and his family as beneficiary.
Angkoy was among the 1,693 Grade 10 students of KNCHS who received their junior high school completion certificates and advanced to the senior high school program.
He completed junior high school, through the Department of Education’s open high school program, with honors after garnering a general average of 90 percent and a “Best in agriculture” award.
Abrogar said in a statement that they surprised Angkoy with the scholarship commitment after the latter signified to forego senior high school and instead take up a technical-vocational or tech-voc course.
He said the TESDA regional office and the South Cotabato field office will assist Angkoy and his family as he pursues his tech-voc training.
“We will guide him in getting a job after he finishes his studies through TESDA,” the official said.
Abrogar urged other students to take advantage of the scholarships being offered by the agency.
Citing Angkoy’s example, he said they should not stop dreaming and striving to make their lives better.
He assured that the agency will fully support them as mandated by President Rodrigo R. Duterte and TESDA Director General Isidro Lapeña.
The success story of Angkoy, whose fish ball stall has become a familiar fixture in front of KNCHS in the last 10 years, was initially posted on Facebook and eventually went viral.
Angkoy earlier said in a radio interview that he failed to continue his high school studies mainly due to poverty.
But his dream to finish high school and beyond remained even as he later started his own family.
He said he was initially discouraged by his wife from enrolling at the KNCHS open high school due to the huge age gap with his classmates.
“But I persisted and continued my studies while providing for my family at the same time,” he said.
Johnryll Ancheta, KNCHS open high school coordinator, said Angkoy was among the 107 students catered to by the program.
“This is indeed an inspiration to all, I am so proud of you,” he said.
He added that through Angkoy’s story, more out-of-school youths would be encouraged to continue their high school studies and even beyond.
