At least 10 universities in the Visayas have filed a petition for an average of 10 percent tuition increase for SY 2011-2012. An official of the Commission on Higher Education (ChEd) said they cannot stop any university from implementing an increase in tuition for as long as the said university has complied with all the requirements set forth by ChEd.
Clearly, this is another burden on the parts of parents who are shedding blood, sweat, and tears just to send their children to school in the hope of giving them a brighter future in a country that has a dusty scene as a future. By next school year, more students will be forced to stop their education because their parents can no longer afford the rise in tuition.
And the only comment we hear from government officials is that they cannot stop any school from implementing an increase as long as the requirements are complied. That's B.S. What about taking another look at the number of dropouts every year due to tuition increase and implement some measures to regulate tuition, say allowing only an increase every 3 or 5 years.
I used to sit as observer during the tuition increase deliberations when I was in college and most of the time, administrators would say that a big chunk of the increase will be used to hike the salaries of teachers and non-teaching staff. I asked a few teachers from my school and they all claimed they have not received any increase for the past three years.
Administrators will also say that they increase will be used to upgrade computer laboratories and other laboratories. When I was still studying in the said university, I took notice of the fact that the computer laboratories were upgraded only once in five years.
Administrators and school heads must also take consideration the plight of parents and the heavy cross that these parents are already carrying - rising fuel cost, high transportation cost, rising cost of basic commodities and utilities, etc. and must be considerate in discussing tuition increase.
Education is a right and not a privilege. But that doesn't hold true anymore. With so many promising students forced to go out of the classroom and out of the schools because of the rising tuition cost, only children of affluent families are given the luxury of getting high quality education in this god-da#$%d country.
