[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Senators fighting for free college tuition ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY PRINCE GOLEZ
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
Thursday, August 3, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
MANILA – At least three senators vowed to get the free tuition program in state universities and colleges implemented next year.
Better access to higher education among the working class should be a priority of the Duterte administration, they insisted.
There were no funds allocated for free higher education in the proposed 2018 national budget that President Rodrigo Duterte submitted to Congress.
The government needs P15 billion to carry out the program, which is in place for the academic year 2017-2018.
“The lack of funding for the free tuition program in the proposed budget … can be addressed by creating another budget insertion,” said Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.
Majority of the senators would consider a budget adjustment to accommodate the free tuition program, he claimed. “At this point, we have the numbers to make it happen.”
Increasing access to higher education among the poor and the working class should be “one of the central pillars of [the administration’s] socioeconomic agenda,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV still hopes Duterte signs into law the proposed “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act” this week.
The measure will lapse into law on Aug. 5 unless vetoed.
“The administration must prioritize education,” Aquino said. “Let’s not lose hope that we will invest in the future of our youth and their families.”
Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, education committee vice chairman, vowed to refile the free college tuition measure if Duterte vetoes it.
“With the cooperation and collaboration of our friends in the executive, we can still salvage the situation and work on how to fine-tune the measure [if] we refile it,” he said.
Aside from providing for free tuition, the measure also mandates the creation of a loan program that students may avail themselves of for their other educational expenses.
“I have said it time and time again: a college education is one of the strongest weapons a person can wield in the fight against the intergenerational evil of poverty,” Gatchalian said. “I urge the Duterte administration to take this maxim to heart by devoting more resources to expanding access to educational opportunities at the tertiary level.”/PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
