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By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
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Thursday, December 29, 2016
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MANILA – A group of students is pushing for legislation to appropriate at least 6 percent of the Gross National Product (GNP) for the implementation of free education in all levels.
The University of the Philippines’ (UP) KAISA on Wednesday claimed that the country’s budget for education has never exceeded 3 percent of the GNP.
Also known as the Six Will Fix Bill, the proposal will ensure just wages for teachers and other personnel as well as improve school facilities.
“If the President is serious in his promise of delivering change, he must do so by prioritizing the bill as urgent, ensuring that free quality education will not suffer from arbitrary changes, nor be subjected to annual competition with other parts of the national budget,” said Zaira Baniaga, chairperson of KAISA-UP.
Baniaga said the recent increase in the education sector’s budget is still not enough to meet the international standards set for education spending in developing countries by the United Nations.
The recently passed measure providing free tution fees in state universities and colleges (SUCs) also failed to fulfill its promise, said Rara Ada of Sanlakas Youth.
The program, according to Ada, is only limited to providing free tuition to students classified as “poor and qualified.”
She added that classifying students by brackets has previously led to increasing tuition, and other fees and a drastic decrease in the number of impoverished students enrolling.
“What is being flaunted as a progressive step in ensuring tertiary education as a right to be accessed by those who choose to is really just a deceptive mechanism in justifying the increase of tuition and other fees, as those who were considered unqualified for free tuition are deemed rich enough to cope with higher fees,” Sanlakas Youth explained./PN
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