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Sad February for Pinoy youth

BAGUIO CITY (Feb. 11) — February is known traditionally as the month of the hearts but is also turning-out as the saddest month for the Filipino youthdue to tuition hikes both in public and private schools.

According to Rizza Ramirez, president of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), 370 out of 1,231 private higher educational institutions (HEIs) have already signified their intention to increase tuition fee for school year 2005-2006.

She also cited that fees have increased by 64.16% from school year 1999-2000 to school year 2003-2004 with an average of P32.74 per unit.

Furthermore, the government has already signified its intention to further decrease its spending on education — the Department of Education (DepEd)will suffer a budget cut of P4.6 billion; state universities and colleges will operate with P950 million less of its 2004 budget of P16.67 billion.

The premier state university, the University of the Philippines (UP) which has around 40,000 students in different campuses around the country, will suffer the biggest budget cut in its almost century old operations with a P355.64 million decrease in its budget.

Added to this, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) with a population of 50,000 students belonging to the “poorest of the poor” will have P33.57 million less for 2005. The students are facing a P88 increase per unit, from P12 to P100.

Effects of the budget cut in UP

Ramirez explains that the budget cut in the UP system will have drastic effects as the decrease is roughly the operating budget of UP Manila, one of the 6 units of UP system, and “is tantamount to the closure of one of the units.”

“With the budget cut, the threat of closure of courses (degrees) and programs offered in UP is a reality. Furthermore, the budget cut compels state universities and colleges (SUCs) to increase tuition, come up with income generating projects, sell intellectual property rights, among others to augment the meager allocation for SUCs,” she added.

The university has implemented means to augment its meager budget such as increasing fees in graduate courses, increasing laboratory fees from P50 to P600 in specific colleges (departments), and imposing exorbitant fees like late registration fee and change of matriculation fee.

She also explained that after 13 years of implementation of the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP), tuition increased from P17 to P300 per unit, and 83.6% of the students ended up paying full tuition. With this scheme, the university has generated P340.767 million in 2003 and P341.226 million in 2004.

According to a primer from the Office of the Student Regent-University of the Philippines and the Katipunan ng mga Mag-aaral sa UP (KASAMA sa UP), there are proposals to increase laboratory fees in UP Diliman, UP Manila and UP Mindanao.

Particularly in the College of Mass Communications in UP Diliman, there are proposals to increase laboratory fees in Film subjects from P100 to P400, but in one particular subject the increase is P2,000. In UP Manila, the dental laboratory fee is seen to increase from P2,500 to P11,000.

Even in academic activities, the students are obliged to pay for using the university facilities. This is implemented in the College in Social Science and Philosophy and in the College of Arts and Letters in UP Diliman, UP Manila and in most of the colleges of UP Visayas.

Also, various fees like cellphone charging fee, computer fee, and radio fee are being collected from the students staying in UP dormitories even in the absence of the approval of the Board of Regents (BOR). The BOR is the policy making body of the entire UP system.

With all the fees being collected, Ramirez concluded that “The Iskolar ng Bayan has now become a paying scholar.”

Government negligence and mispriority

According to Ramirez, the cause of the continuous decline of the quality of education is due to the negligence and misprioritization of the government.

She cited the failure of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to enforce its phase-out order to 115 HEIs who had a 5% or lower passing rate in the licensure examinations from 1997 to 2000. Out of 115 HEIs, only 15 have complied.

Furthermore, she also cited the failure of CHED to stop the operations of schools running without government permit.

With CHED’s negligence, she advised students to ensure that the courses or programs as well as the schools are accredited by the government before enrolling to so as not to waste money, time and effort because graduating in these schools and courses will not ensure jobs simply because the schools are not accredited.

Lastly, she also cited the government’s mispriority particularly with regard to its budget allocation wherein debt servicing eats up 47% of the national budget roughly P359.87 billion while the education’s budget has continuously been decreasing.

She explained that with the rising cost of education in private schools, students look at the state-run universities and colleges, but with the budget cut, these SUCs have no other recourse but to also increase tuition to compensate for its meager budget. This means higher cost of education in public schools.

“The rising cost of education even in SUCs drive many Filipino students out of schools. Does this government envision a bleak future with uneducated youth?” she ended. # Noel Godinez for NORDIS

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