Banning the no permit, no exam policy would be detrimental to the educational system
April 11, 2023CitizenWatch Philippines joins the call for lawmakers to defer the bicameral committee deliberations on Senate Bills 1359 and House Bill 7584 — bills that will allow students with unpaid tuition and other school fees to take assessments and examinations.
Congress should hear the legitimate concerns of private schools before pushing through with the bills which could easily be deemed populist.
The bills purport to alleviate the financial burden on students and parents by doing away with the No Permit, No Exam policy. But if enacted into law, they will have very real and very serious repercussions on the quality of education that private schools can give their students.
The timely and adequate collection of tuition and other fees is critical to the day-to-day operations of private schools – the maintenance of facilities, the salaries of teachers, and the procurement of educational materials. If the cash flow is heavily disrupted, schools still struggling to stay afloat may eventually be forced to close.
Students and parents will be disenfranchised. Teachers and other school personnel will lose their jobs.
We understand that the provision of education is a public interest. But the private schools are not out to charge exorbitant fees and earn unconscionable profits. They understand that times are difficult and there are many families that struggle to give their children the best education. They care about and are compassionate to these students’ situation, especially after the harrowing effects of the pandemic on families’ livelihoods.
Private schools must remain viable to provide quality education to young Filipinos. This is why they already offer installment plans and deferred payment schemes. Department of Education Order 15 s. 2010 allows such arrangements precisely to accommodate learners who may be constrained from paying their tuition in full or on time.
CitizenWatch is one with the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA) in appealing to our lawmakers to balance their concern for the students and families on one hand, and for the private education sector on the other. Private schools do not set their fees on a whim, and yet these fees are their lifeblood. A law that compromises this lifeblood might drain the life out of these schools – partners of the government in shaping the minds and hearts of the next generation, the future workers and leaders of our country.