CEDAW/C/PHI/4 English Page 43 development. It benefited 15,000 illiterate women (12 per cent of the female target population). 150. Scholarships and other forms of financial support are awarded to deserving and poor students, regardless of gender. (a) The Department of Science and Technology offers 100 scholarships every year to students belonging to low-income families; (b) The Department of Education, Culture and Sports has a Study-Now-PayLater Plan for financially disadvantaged students; (c) The University of the Philippines has democratized its admission policy and offers subsidized tuition fees; (d) Other scholarships, such as the State Scholarship program, the National Integrated Scholarship program for Cultural Minorities, the Selected Ethnic Groups Educational Assistance Program, the National Reconciliation Development Program for Rebel Returnees, and the Government Assistance for Students and Teachers in private Education, are being offered. 151. A number of programmes or projects for the disadvantaged sectors, such as the tribal population, have been implemented. One such programme is the Accelerated Teacher Training for Cultural Communities (ATTCC) under which teacher trainees from remote villages took part in a 26-month teacher-training diploma course in elementary education. The ATTCC graduates have been teaching literacy skills to an estimated 23,600 children and about 8,000 illiterate adults, mostly women of cultural communities, all over Mindanao every year. 152. Another programme is the Alternative Non-formal Education delivery Schemes which was developed and implemented for selected cultural communities. The programme, a joint effort of governmental and non-governmental organizations, including religious and academic institutions, benefited some 1,500 children and illiterate women and men in Manobo communities in the mountains of Bukidnon and the southern Philippines, and an estimated 3,000 Mangyan children and adults in Occidental Mindoro. 153. The Multigrade Teaching Approach increased the access to elementary education in areas such as the provinces of Ifugao and Negros Occidental which would otherwise not have met the required teacher-pupil ratio. This project benefited 32,858 schoolchildren. 154. Non-formal education programmes in aquaculture, processing of fish products and seaweed farming have been conducted for fisherfolk. A pilot programme which explores community learning approaches to literacy for women in the fishing villages north of Manila is being implemented. 155. A major issue that continues to limit women's fields of participation as education and training beneficiaries is sexism and stereotypes which perpetuate sex-role dichotomy and sexist attitudes. Many women are limited by the cultural roles assigned to them; hence they tend to venture into fields which are specified by cultural standards. Technical and vocational courses are still /...