TO BE rolled out in time for school year 2018-2019 is the free college tuition program under Republic Act (RA) 10931, also known as the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. It is envisioned to give poor Filipinos the chance to step foot on college, giving them the tools to eventually change their lives and their loved ones’ lives for the better.
While it is among the most celebrated laws to be enacted under the relatively young Duterte administration, it still has its detractors. This landmark law must get off on the right foot. By doing so, doubters of the program can no longer claim that tuition-free tertiary education in the Philippines is fake news.
But how?
Here’s one practical suggestion: schools covered by the free college tuition initiative must post within their campuses the guidelines and “how-to’s” of the program. In other words, transparency in its implementation, the steps on how students can avail themselves of it. This would ensure the hitch-free implementation of the program during its all-important first year of effectivity.
What we want is proper compliance with the requirements among the beneficiary-students. The participating State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs) must do everything to guarantee that all the relevant information is passed on to the target beneficiaries. The guidelines to be posted in the different schools and universities shall be based on the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the free college tuition program which the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) officially launched last March.
Covered by the program are some 112 SUCs and 78 LUCs accredited by CHED, as well as 122 Technical-Vocational Institutions under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
RA 10931 says that aside from tuition, the state will also shoulder miscellaneous and other similar or related fees. The P40-billion allocation for school year 2018-2019 under the program is broken down as follows: P16 billion for the Tertiary Education Subsidy, P7 billion for Technical-Vocational Education and Training, P1 billion for the Student Loan Program, and P16 billion for Free Higher Education.
All eyes are on the maiden implementation of the free tuition law. Schools should not mess this up.
