ON August 3 President Duterte signed into law the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act or Republic Act 10931. Four days later, however, he declared that he himself did not know where the funding for this program will come from. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) estimated that it would require around P100 billion to implement this law, and this was mostly why the government’s economic managers were not so keen about the bill in the first place.
On the other hand, student organizations and the students and parents of those studying in State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)-accredited Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs) are rejoicing because on their part, this, of course, means less to no expense for tertiary education. Aside from free tuition fees, students of these institutions (and technical and vocational institutions) will also enjoy free “other fees”, as well as education subsidy and loans from the government. Details pertaining to these components are still being crafted into the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), which everyone is anticipating at the moment.
Aside from the question on funding, several personalities have raised an issue about the end beneficiaries of the program, saying that it is most likely the rich students who will benefit more. This is mainly based on facts showing that there are more rich students enrolled in SUCs than poor students. For a program that is challenging to fund—and may possibly draw from existing budgets for other government programs—it should be mandatory that the limited budget for this should benefit those who truly deserve.
When the law will be implemented next school year 2018-2019, there is an expected influx of K to 12 graduates in the SUCs and LUCs. Aside from this, we can definitely expect, too, that some students will be returning to school (because it’s all free now) and some students from private institutions will surely be transferring to the SUCs/LUCs to avail themselves of the privilege. The questions this time would be these: Are the SUCs and LUCs ready to accommodate the deluge of enrollees in terms of facilities, teaching faculty and admin staff and academically or curriculum-wise? How do we ensure that the private institutions will not die because of this law?
There are apparently many more things to think about now that the law has been passed. Imperatively, the money needs to go where it is most needed, and the students who are availing themselves of the program should indeed receive quality tertiary education.
As the CHED-Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education and the DBM sit down with partners and stakeholders to draft the IRR, I continue to hope that this new law will pave the way for the realization of our lawmakers’ best intentions when they drafted the bill.
1 comment
another ill conceived law for pogi points, disappointed with bum aquino for pushing this…..but i still hope it will be modified so that only deserving and financially challenged students get to avail this