DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Private school heads do not welcome the proposed bill that would give eight billion pesos annually to public colleges and universities.
In a statement Monday, Coordinating Council for Private Educational Associations member institutions said due attention to “quality” improvement must first be considered.
They said, “SUCs (state universities and colleges) are still struggling to achieve conditions of genuine quality higher education for the students they already have.”
“Providing more access to poor quality institutions is like providing more access to MRTs and LRTs that don’t run, or like putting more refugees on boats that sink from overloading,” the group added.
Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, head of the Senate education committee, filed Senate Bill No. 177 otherwise known as the Free Higher Education for All Act, a measure which will give free tuition fee to all students studying in the country’s 456 SUCs.
For Cococopea, the proposed eight billion pesos annually to subsidize the higher education of those who can afford to pay for it themselves in quality State Universities and Colleges, like UP, or to subsidize higher education in SUCs “wastes taxpayers’ money; the latter wastes lives.”
It urged the Senate committee to heed the mandate of the Constitution by recognizing the complementary roles of public and private institutions in the educational system.
The statement was signed by Cocopea member associations, namely: Dr Miguel Udtohan, ACSCU; Fr. Joel Tabora, SJ, CEAP; Prof. Dhanna Kerinna Rodas, PACU, Dr. Jose Paolo Campos, PAPSCU, and Dr. Horacio Montefrio, TVSA. (davaotoday.com)
