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Wednesday, august 2, 2017
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A huge step backward
THE removal of funds for free higher education in state universities and colleges (SUCs) in the proposed 2018 national budget is a big disappointment. There is a P6.29-billion budget cut for the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
In the 2017 General Appropriations Act, P8 billion for free tuition and other school fees are included in the CHED budget as the Higher Education Support Program. CHED is also allocated P3 million for Cash Grants to Medical Students. In the 2018 National Expenditure Program the President submitted to Congress, these were not reiterated or deleted.
The President’s economic managers consistently opposed free higher education, then he himself subjected the P8.3-billion allocation in the 2017 budget to conditional implementation. And now, funds that are supposed to continue the free college program in 2018 are missing from his proposed budget. It also bears noting that the President has not yet signed the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Bill approved by Congress. If signed into law, it would turn the one-year program into a regular program of the government. According to the Senate and Lower House websites, it was transmitted to him on July 5.
Instead of removing funds for free tuition and other school fees, the administration should even increase the allocation to ensure that tertiary education remains free in 2018 and that more youth can avail themselves of it. It should even substantially increase SUCs’ budgets to ensure that what they offer is indeed quality education.
What’s happening is a huge step backward for the administration. While the Philippine National Police, Department of National Defense and Armed Forces of the Philippines are given hefty increases, higher education will suffer a tremendous budget cut.
It was proven in the budget last year that the state can afford to allocate funds for education in the tertiary level. Congress, if it chooses to, can reinstate the provision providing free tuition for all undergraduate and medical students in the 2018 national budget. It supposedly has the power of the purse, so it should even take a step forward and significantly increase funds for free higher education.
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