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BACOLOD City – Parents of pupils and students in public schools here may not worry about miscellaneous fees anymore.
Under a newly approved ordinance, the city government will pay for miscellaneous fees in all public elementary and secondary schools under the Department of Education (DepEd) Division of Bacolod City.
Such fees include “athletics/cultural, school paper/school identification, Boy/Girl Scout, and Philippine Red Cross.”
The city government shall allocate P28 million for such fees in its annual budget, said Councilor Caesar Distrito, author of the ordinance.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod approved the ordinance on Oct. 18.
Many Filipinos still hesitate sending their children to school, worried that they may not afford fees required for enrollment and/or graduation, he said.
According to DepEd – Division of Bacolod City, there are 70,602 elementary pupils, 29,788 junior high school students and 2,105 senior high school students here.
“The DepEd has issued several orders on the ‘no collection policy’ in all public elementary and secondary schools, expressly mentioning that fees can be collected from students but on a voluntary basis,” said Distrito.
Still, the councilor stressed, most public schools continue to collect fees, some compulsory, from students.
“Such imposition of fees was found as one of the reasons for the continued increase in the number of out-of-school youth, a discouraging factor and a violation to the provisions of our Constitution,” Distrito said.
Distrito also said the Constitution mandates the State to “establish and maintain a system of free public education in elementary and high school levels.”/PN
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