philstar
國立大學明年起免學費
隨著高等教育委員會(CHED)對2017年83億預算的重新調整,
國立大學和學院的學生明年起不需要支付學費.
Free tuition in state schools next year
By Janvic Mateo (The Philippine Star) | Updated December 17, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Students in state universities and colleges (SUCs) do
not have to pay tuition starting next year, following the realignment of P8.3
billion in the 2017 budget of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
The Senate realigned the P8.3-billion allocation to cover tuition of students
in SUCs during the Senate deliberations on the 2017 budget. It reportedly
came from the infrastructure budget for the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao, which was questioned by Sen. Panfilo Lacson and dubbed as a form of
pork barrel.
“That’s purely for tuition, that’s purely to remove tuition from the
student expenses,” CHED chair Patricia Licuanan said in a television
interview yesterday.
“We cannot spend that P8 billion on anything else except to compensate the
schools for the fact that they can no longer charge tuition,” she added.
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Licuanan said the CHED is working with other government agencies for the
implementing guidelines on how to utilize the budget, which will be part of
the 2017 General Appropriations Act now awaiting the signature of President
Duterte.
“Logistically, it will be difficult. How do you share, how do you divide up
P8 billion with 113 SUCs (and the University of the Philippines)? What
formula do you use?” she asked.
“The implementation will be a bit of a challenge, but that’s the intention
of the P8 billion,” she added.
CHED deputy executive director Napoleon Imperial said the commission would
coordinate with the Department of Budget and Management to address issues
regarding fund utilization.
“CHED wants to ensure that the implementation/guidelines are defined
properly to be able to manage the huge amount of funds accordingly,” he
added.
Kabataan party-list Rep. Sarah Elago lauded the allocation of the budget and
called it a step in the right direction for SUCs.
“This is a victory for the youth movement which has long fought for the
right to education. This is great news for the nation’s youth and their
families, especially the poor and marginalized,” she said.
“I also call on student councils and student governments, as well as the
regents and trustees, to conduct student consultation summits to help shape
and monitor the implementation of the tuition-free policy. We must do
everything in our power to have it implemented quickly and with a positive
effect on students and the SUC community.
“We don’t expect this to be easy. We are fighting a decades-old problem
that infected SUCs with the wrong notion on tuition. Some SUCs may insist on
violating the spirit of the Congress decision, but we will patiently and
unequivocally fight them,” she added.
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