Students say tuition increase will be “disastrous”; warn of enrollment drop due to crisis
May 15, 2008

Members of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) held a rally in front of the Commission on Higher Education today to express their opposition to plans for the increase of tuition in private schools.

According to Vencer Crisostomo, LFS National Chairperson, the plan will cause a disaster for students and their families as many will not be able to afford going to school.

According to Crisostomo, many parents might not be able to enroll their children in the coming school year as the price increases are also expected to raise the costs of sending young people to school.

“Parents are now being forced to choose between sending their children to school or spending that amount to buy rice and other necessities. This is apart from the fact that school fees are also on the rise due to lack of budgetary allocation,” he added.

Crisostomo warned that tuition increases will bring forth a dramatic drop in the enrollment rate for this year.

“The enrollment rate has been at a steady decline under Arroyo’s government. From 1995 to 2002, enrollment grew at a rate of 1.98 percent. Since 2003 to 2007, it has dropped to 0.97 percent. We expect this figure to drop dramatically this year due to the crisis,” he
explained.

“If the government does not properly address the current crisis, more parents and students might be forced to drop out from schools. PMA na lang sila: Pahinga Muna Anak or Pangkain na lang Muna Anak,” he added.

According to LFS, the drop out rate as it is now is already a cause for alarm, as only 60 percent of those who enter grade one finish basic education and 40 percent finish high school, 20 percent enroll to college and only 10 percent finishes to receive a degree.

“With the current crisis and the continued lack of government response, we can expect these figures to go up this coming school year. The Arroyo government has made education less accessible to Filipinos,” said Crisostomo.

The LFS called on the government to “act quickly and decisively” to address the “worsening education crisis which it has only its self and its flawed policies to blame.”

In order to avert this worsening education crisis, the government, according to LFS, must:
1. Increase budgetary allocation and subsidy to education,
2. Stop the implementation of unnjust tuition and other fee increases
this coming year, and
3. Stop the imposition of school fees and compulsory payments in
public elementary and high schools.

“If the Arroyo government fails to act on these calls, more students and youth will surely take the streets to protest her corrupt and anti-youth policies,” Crisostomo said. #

Reference: Vencer Crisostomo, National Chairperson 09157991059