MANILA, Philippines — Various militant youth organizations on Thursday trooped to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) central office in Quezon City to protest various education policies of the Duterte administration, including the removal of Filipino and Panitikan as mandatory subjects in college.
Members of Kabataan party-list, Anakbayan, National Union of Students of the Philippines and the League of Filipino Students also protested possible increases in tuition and other school fees in tertiary institutions this year and the push for the mandatory implementation of the Reserved Officers Training Corps program in senior high school.
Kabataan party-list Rep. Sarah Elago said the solidarity action also covered the supposed lobbying of autonomous and deregulated private schools for exemption to policy guidelines and the supposed abolition of the national multisectoral board that enables stakeholders to take part in policy deliberations.
“We call on CHED to heed the voices of students and parents in scrapping commercialization and liberalization policies in higher education,” she added.
Tensions flared during the protest after police arrested some of the rallyists who lobbed paint at the gates of the agency.
Police said the protesters were later released and no charges were filed against them.
In separate statements, the militant groups condemned the incident, describing it as “brutal harassment” of progressive youth organizations. – With Romina Cabrera, Jaime Laude