Treating Miscellaneous fees as "Minor Issue"
is not minor for the masses!
Last June 9, 2011, Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raymond "Mong" Palatino pushed for a revised set of guidelines that will regulate school fees especially what he called the “dubious and notorious” miscellaneous fees being collected by schools.
This kind of call, is a resonse to recent events concerning increase in Tuition and Other Fees and its negative impact as more and more students, parents, and other "Consumers" (according to the Government) are questioning concerning increases both in public and private schools, especially on “the rampant imposition of unjust, redundant, arbitrary and exorbitant miscellaneous fees in schools nationwide.”
Obviously, most private and public educational institutions are trying to justify their actions citing from "Education Act of 1982, CHED Memorandum 13 and other decrees, including "private schools as a business institution" or the recent Education Budget cut alibi that much infuriates the low-income majority in regards to them. In regards to state universities like U.P. or P.U.P., they should have been given subsidies being known much as "State Universities" and as for U.P. as a "National University" that is, a primary obligation of the State to give a large chunk of national budget instead of resorting it to obligatory payments of Tuition and Other Fees. It makes no sense to call a "State supported educational institution" if there are fees to be paid, or worse, an increase.
Well... according to Deng Xiaoping:
In the Philippines, a need for a universal education system should be addressed and its graduates be given real decent employment, domestically instead of being forced as migrants or be pressed into jobs that aren't important in regards to nation building, that, for example, a nation needs doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers working for the community instead of nurses or call centre agents working on behalf of a foreign entity. The current education trend still continues to dominate, that, as expected by many, steering the nation backwards through loss of brain and brawn in the country.Worse, that every student and parent are still facing the yearly tuition and other fee increases that, instead of generating more graduates be end up having some or few diploma-carrying individuals and more dropouts citing poverty as its main causes. The system, obviously, remained aloof at the current situation that they often evade or treating the matter as a minor issue due to its deregulated structure. Obviously, science and culture cannot progress rapidly if having a "Laissez Faire" in education be tolerated regardless of the so-called "reforms" and "measures" merely acted as a facade or propaganda. We've watched certain reports about students questioning the credibility of schools when it comes to paying fees. For example, E.A.R.I.S.T. obliged students to pay "Aircon fee" in pursuit of putting Air conditioners in classrooms, but isn't it obvious that kind of fee should be carried by the obligatory expenses under the tuition fee? Same as in Energy fee and other expenses, charges that obviously end up as sources of income.
However,
C.H.ED., in pursuit of appeasing students and administrators, attempted to create a set of guidelines in regards to paying Miscellaneous fees and the like; they separated into "Basic" and "Incidental" ones that most of it are rather supposedly to be carried by the Tuition itself; like "Medical and Dental fee" for instance, it is supposedly carried under the Tuition, same goes the "Cultural" and "Internet" fees. The "Student handbook" should even be fall upon "Student Publications" also; since how come a student handbook can't be a part of a publication of the institution? Or rather why not be a part of the Tuition also?
Well... the Studentry cannot be fooled by the dubious tactics of the pseudo-educators and crooks in toga. The Miscellaneous fees, alongside increase in Tuition is the manifestation of a "Legalized" extortion using such "reasons" like "development" and so fourth; if so then how come some rooms aren't been developed? Modernized? Improved? C.H.ED. may have tried much to justify and expand what fees are ought to be paid, and somehow the crooks in toga would create means to expand also, using the so-called "regulation", "guidelines", "statutes" that more and more students, particularly with working-class backgrounds would never, ever accept it. For sure some would say that "How come I need to pay additional fee for U.E. Today yet I got no issue of it?"
Paying additional fees, alongside increasing it and putting some interest, and justifying crisis outside rather makes the crisis worsen. And treating it as a minor issue is nonsense, for it is not minor to those who pay. Education, first and foremost, is a right of the majority; and it is the duty of the state to ensure the well-being of everyone in giving knowledge, reason, and livelihood.
