Tuition hike allowed if scholarhips are provided - solon

MANILA, Philippines - A legislator has filed a bill which allows schools to jack up their tuition and other fees as long they grant scholarships to poor but deserving students.

 

Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan said House Bill 4816 seeks to establish and maintain a system of scholarship grants, student loan programs, subsidies, and other incentives, which shall be available to deserving students in both public and private schools, especially to the underprivileged.

 

“This proposal sets a mechanism and support system for the poor but deserving students so that they would be able to finish their education and provide the country the needed intellectuals for national development, growth and prosperity,” Tan said.

 

The bill requires private schools with a total enrolment of at least 200 students or pupils to allot free scholarships to poor but deserving students at the ratio of one free scholarship for every 100 students or pupils.

 

Tan said the requirement shall be exclusive of the present practice of private schools offering scholarship privileges to valedictorians, salutatorians and other students or pupils who have achieved scholastic distinctions.

 

Under the measure, the expansion of scholarship program by private academic institutions, colleges, universities and schools shall be a condition for the increase in tuition and other school fees application.

 

Neither shall other forms of scholarships such as those offered to athletes and working students be included in arriving at the proper number of poor but deserving students or pupils to be given free scholarships.

 

“Considering the high cost of education in the private educational institutions and the decreasing subsidies in the State Universities and Colleges (SUC), large number of Filipino youth suffers the anxiety and uncertainty of not finishing their education,” Tan said.

 

“Should the State continue to neglect its duty to provide adequate support to poor but deserving students, the country may face not only an intellectual but moral hemorrhage in the future,” Tan added.

 

She said the government should protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all.

 

“Education constitutes an extremely significant factor in a country’s development and it serves as the backbone of all industrialized and industrializing economies in the world today,” Tan said.

 

The Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) shall formulate and issue the necessary implementing rules and regulations that would define the program the students or pupils who will qualify for free scholarships, the process and similar other provisions.