By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
Many will definitely jump with joy, especially during this period of merrymaking, with the news that all tertiary students will no longer pay tuition fees. Make that students in all State Universities and Colleges (SUCs).
Few days ago, the news was splashed on the front pages of almost all national dailies. That is, for 2017, the Commission on Higher Education will have for its disposal about PhP8.3B. This is on top of its approved PhP10.0B budget for the same year. lt is a windfall, if you may call it such.
We have to thank Sen. PanfiloLacson for “delivering” the 8.3 billion pesos for the SUC students. The amount was actually earmarked for infrastructure in the ARMM. He questioned it saying that it is like a pork barrel fund. The embattled CHED chair, Patricia Licuanan, was pleasantly surprised on the turn of events. She explained that the total amount is purely for tuition of students in SUCs. She asks though, “How will you divide, PhP8.3B with 113 SUCs. What formula do you use? She herself actually provided the answer substantially when she declared, that the entire amount will be used only to compensate schools which can no longer charge tuition fees.
The news seems not yet fully appreciated by people in many SUCs. I asked some middle level administrators in 3 SUCs and they are not yet in total awareness of this. Blame the holidays and the untold deadlines to meet at this time.
Cong. Sarah Elago, Kabataan Party-list reperesentative lauded the allocation of the budget and called it a step in the right direction for SUCs. She called it also a victory for the youth movement which had assiduously fought for the right to education. She said that some SUCs might continue to sidetrack the “spirit of the congress’ decision but we will patiently and unequivocally fight them”!
Rep. Elago is using the word, fight, which is discomfiting. She is insinuating of something akin to war, instead of offering cooperation or working together with the SUCs. It is a sign of one-track-mindedness, a misgiving on the youth. I have always been on the side of students as I had been a student leader during my college days. I had my blind side before, seeing only the student interests.
Now, I am a little wiser. It is not so wise to fight only for the interests of the students. You just do your best to protect them but consider also other aspects that, anyway, will still contribute to the students’ welfare. For example, if the SUCs will not be able to charge any tuition fee anymore, will they be able deliver the quality education and services that the students deserve? We should remember that the additional PhP8.3B budget will only be for 2017. Will it be sustained after that? If not, what will happen to SUCs who were almost left for themselves for quite sometime now? They may not survive, leaving students in the dark where to enroll in next. Meaning, instead of sending more students to college, we might be actually depriving them of such opportunity.
It is so easy to say that the budget should be incorporated in the General Appropriations Act. Well and good if that is so, but the reality is, it may be that difficult to do it. Just look at the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA). The law mandated an additional 20.0B pesos for the DA budget every year. Just ask DA people how much was appropriated under AFMA for the 6 years that it was in effect. If the law was followed, am sure we would have gone a lot further in agriculture development by now.
The free tuition for higher education was actually the brainchild of the neophyte Senator Win Gatchalian who filed a bill in Congress a few years back,when he was still a representative. It was not successful, mainly I guess due to financial constraints. In June this year, Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV filed Senate Bill No. 177 – An Act Providing for a Full Tuition Fee for Students enrolled in State Universities and Colleges [or Free Higher Education Act for All]. It is still pending in the Senate’s committee on education, arts and culture and the Finance committee.
Among others, Sen. Bam said that 2 out of 5 H.S. graduates fail to pursue tertiary education due to high tuition and miscellaneous expenses, thus, most often, only the middle income and richer families could send their children to college.
It would be more meaningful then if not all will be given free tuition as many can afford it. The free tuition should therefore be on a socialized scheme. That means students who can afford college education should be made to pay their own tuition. In this way, the present additional budget of CHED can be stretched to more than one year.
As to the concern of Chair Licuanan about how to divide the additional budget, they can use the present SUC leveling that they have initiated as a primary criteria.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!**
