By KC Santos
MANDALUYONG CITY, METRO MANILA- Student groups are calling on President Benigno Aquino III to commit “honest education reforms” in his upcoming State of the Nation Address.
A total of 112 State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and other youth groups joined simultaneous nationwide protest actions on Tuesday.
Dubbed “National Day of Unity and Action”, among those who joined were the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC), Kabataan Party-list, Anakbayan, National Union of Students of the Philippines, League of Filipino Students, Student Christian Movement of the Philippines, Karatula, and the College Editors’Guild of the Philippines.
Kabataan Party-list Representative Raymond Palatino said they conducted the protest prior to the SONA so that their “heed for an honest reform” can be addressed by Aquino when he delivers his second SONA on July 25.
Palatino expects Aquino to deliver the same “formulaic” speech highlighting his administration's accomplishments while putting the blame on the previous government.
“For once, the people deserve an honest admission of his weaknesses, a clear accounting of his failures and his policies,” said Palatino, adding that Aquino’s programs merely “protract” the previous policies laid by the administration of former President turned Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Palatino said Aquino needs to look at raising investments on public tertiary education because SUCs are capable of producing “highly employable” graduates.
“SUCs offer affordable but quality education but with all the budget cuts, sustainability is threatened. SUCs are even mandated to offer courses like agriculture, marine biology, even meteorology which are not really popular but essential courses that our students and country really need,” said Palatino.
He also argued against the perceive “surplus” of SUCs in the country, stating these are actually outnumbered by private schools.
“In other countries, SUCs are heavily subsidized because that has always been their model. In the Philippines, education has since been privately dominated. These give students from poor families the option to go to private schools in order to get quality education or just simply quit,” he said.
Based on the budget allotment stated in the 2010 and 2011 General Appropriations Act (GAA ), 24 out of the 112 SUCs nationwide were cut off considerable budget allocation amounting to more than P367 million.
Meanwhile, Rizal Technological University (RTU) President and PASUC President for NCR Dr. Jesus Rodrigo Torres said there is a grave need to revitalize the budget allotment for SUCs Capital Outlay, which should be sufficient enough to fund upgrading of facilities, maintenance and procurement of learning equipments.
“We had to rely on the university’s income which is not enough to sustain what our students need. The government must not look at subsidizing SUCs as an expense rather and investment because we supply manpower needs for the country,” said Torres.
In RTU's case, he said the school had to limit the number of enrollees this semester to ensure quality training for students.
