Monday, July 07, 2008 Speak out: Youth Act Now! - CDO By Armieyah Ayob
THE National Union of Students of the Philippines, Kabataang Pinoy Party, Kabataan Party and Youth Act Now! Alliance, along with other student and youth groups, forge unity to denounce the intensifying crisis on education through at citywide Youth Summit at AVR1, Xavier University.
The summit aims to gather the youth leaders and provide a venue to discuss the different youth demands in the city, particularly on education, and be able to come up with a unified stand against the unjust tuition fee and other fee increases.
The collaborative effort of these groups played a vital role in voicing out the grievances of the students and the youth in general providing a favorable venue to express a justifiable claim for what is due to them.
Considering that public educational institutions were outnumbered by the private colleges and universities, it is very clear that the government is not taking into account its responsibility of providing an accessible and quality education for the youth as mandated in the Constitution. Hence, it is now giving another chance for the capitalist educators to accumulate super profit and once again exploit the youth sector.
Weeks ago, it has been reported that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had already found an alternative to lessen the burden of the suffering youth regarding with the breath-taking tuition and other fee increases. This is by giving a moratorium on tuition only to the state colleges and universities. In contrast, just last year, she uttered that the state colleges and universities should be self-reliant enough to support their institutions.
This is just another case of the government's negligence of duty. Furthermore, this inconsistency only proves its insincerity in addressing the demands of the students and youth in general. Furthermore, this is just one of her tricks to appease the minds of the suffering youth. This is an act that the youth and the people should not leave behind.
The group hits the further commercialization of education instead of making it accessible to all, thus making education unattainable to the common tao.
We firmly believe that the present government doesn't have a credibility to handle the crises anymore since it failed in addressing the calls of the youth sector and the Filipino people on education at a very long period of time. Thus, the youth sector strongly calls for the immediate order of this remarkably paralytic and morally bankrupt government in power.
