DAVAO CITY, Philippines—A militant youth group on Wednesday ridiculed the Foundation for Economic Freedom for opposing a measure that would offer a free publication education in all levels.
“Education is a right. Free education in all levels for every Filipino people is a state responsibility. This is our demand and we are willing to fight tooth and nail for this right,” League of the Filipino Students National Spokesperson JP Rosos said in a statement.
“The FEF, the Commission on Higher Education, and several members of the Duterte regime clearly do not understand the struggle of the youth today. They have clearly unveiled that the free tuition policy of the government is far from the demands of the youth for free public education in all levels.”
Rosos accused CHED, FEF and other groups opposing such plan “for being ungrounded to reality.” “Clearly, they want to use the free tuition policy to exacerbate the existing neoliberal attacks on the rights of students to all levels.
Rosos pointed out that scholarships are only justification to impose tuition and other school fees increases. He, however, said that scholarships have not only “failed to democratize the access to education” but also pushed for “the worsening state of commercialization and privatization in schools across the country.”
“The FEF and the Duterte administration is correct in this observation. But they failed to answer the important question – why? They ignored the fact that students weren’t able to go to school because of the sky-rocketing tuition and other school fees as a result of the continuing implementation of neoliberal policies,” Rosos said.
The LFS also criticized the technical-working group in Congress for its proposed IRR on the free tuition policy
“As the discussions in the legislation starts, it is clear that the free tuition policy they want to implement is based on neoliberal policies on education – the same policies that take away our right to free public education in all levels,” Rosos said.
The group and other youth organizations will be staging a nationwide walk out on Feb.23 to campaign the free public education and to urge the government to junk the neoliberal polices. ‘
“If we want a genuinely free public education in all levels – an education that is free from tuition and other school fees, then we should abrogate the neoliberal policies on education. This is a decade-old demand that will only be realized with our collective struggle,” Rosos said. (davaotoday.com)
