Activists gathered in front of the Iloilo provincial capitol on May 10, to call for a genuinely free education weeks before the school year starts.
Around 50 members of Anakbayan and Kabataan Partylist and some parents called on state colleges and universities (SUCs) to completely eliminate tuition and other fees.
Anakbayan condemned the tuition fee system where tuition fee is based on family income, which is applied in the University of the Philippines.
“This scheme distorts the principle that education is a right for all. The socialized tuition scheme has only been used to generate income for SCUs when it is the responsibility of the government to provide funds for education,” Bryan Bosque, spokesperson of Anakbayan said in an Inquirer report.
The Congress earlier said it will allot P8.3 billion to spare parents from paying tuition fees of around 1.4 million students in 114 SCUs for the upcoming school year.
Youth groups, however, condemned the free tuition policies because students will still pay laboratory and miscellaneous fees.
In Western Visayas, around 20 private schools have applied to the Commission on Higher Education for increase of tuition fee. The applications are yet to be finalized.
Photo credit: Concept News Central
