Administrative Order No. 24, issued May 5, 1954, prescribing rules and regulations governing the selection and appointment of non-Christian student pensionados, is hereby amended so as to provide the following rules:

1. Preferred courses of study. - In the selection of applicants for non-Christian student pensionados, preference shall be given to those intending to take vocational and technical as distinguished from purely academic courses.

The preferred courses are veterinary medicine, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial or chemical engineering, architecture, surveying, drafting, home economics, dietician, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and other vocational courses, whichever is the shortest being the most preferred. Other courses, such as law, medicine, education, or B.S.E., etc., may be allowed as a course for non-Christian pensionados, only if proofs satisfactory to this Office are adduced to show that in the locality, province, or region where the applicant resides, there is a lack of professionally trained non-Christians along those lines of profession.

2. Advancing the date of examination. - The date of the examination as provided in paragraph 3 of Administrative Order No. 24 is hereby changed and advanced from the second Saturday of May of each year to the second Saturday of April of each year.

3. Relative weight of the competitive examination; final rating. - The result or the rating obtained in the competitive examination for scholarship as provided for in Administrative Order No. 24 shall be given the relative weight of one-half, the remaining one-half to be based upon the average rating obtained upon graduation from the high school of each student-applicant. The final rating of each student-applicant shall be obtained by adding the rating obtained in the competitive examination to the average rating obtained upon graduation from the high school, and dividing the sum thereof by two.

4. Additional rules for the selection of applicant for appointment as student pensionado. - Where a member of one family is already in the roll of pensionados, no other member of the same family shall be eligible for appointment as student-pensioniado, if there are other qualified applicants.

The amendments herein provided shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 10th day of April, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and fifty-six, and of the Independence of the Philippines, the tenth.

(Sgd.) RAMON MAGSAYSAY
President of the Philippines

By the President:
(Sgd.) FORTUNATO DE LEON
Acting Executive Secretary