Friday, August 17, 2007 Roperos: Costly ‘free’ education By Godofredo M. Roperos Politics Also
MY talk with a number of parents I met from the towns the past couple of months have prompted my writing this piece. It seems that most of them should have had all of their children enrolled in the primary or secondary schools. But only one or two of them are.
They said that while the public school is free, the kids are still saddled with contributions and other assessments they did not expect would be shouldered by them, either partially or wholly.
Right now, I am sure the dropout rate among our elementary and national high schools in the countryside is considerable simply because parents are unable to meet the peripheral cost of our so-called free education. While I have no statistical basis for this claim, I have reason to believe that, against the backdrop of our current economic condition, the rate would be high.
In the elementary level, for instance, children are asked to give P10 contribution to cover the cost of their periodical tests. No receipts are given. I know this because I am helping a number of kids through elementary and secondary schools in my hometown.
While our politicians and national leaders crow about how our national government, as a matter of policy and in keeping with the constitutional mandate, give mandatory free education to all children of school age, the reality is different.
Peripheral expenses hound our free education and poor families are often unable to meet them. In fact, our schools now ask kids to have more notebooks than I could remember I ever bought in my time.
At the primary level, a pupil would come home asking for varying amounts their classroom teacher asks them to contribute, from P1 to help defray the cost of cleaning the school toilet to P20 to fund a school project.
I do not mind paying P50 a month for computer instruction, if the computer class is held regularly or if I am told how the mount would be used, say, to pay the honorarium of a computer instructor. Parents reportedly agreed to the expense in a meeting.
It is the same in the high school. Not only are the kids asked to pay a fixed amount under miscellaneous items but the parents in the parent-teacher meetings also agree to contribute an amount for fencing the school, to pay for the light and water consumption of the school, among others.
This is on top of individual classroom projects the teacher assigns each student to undertake, which cost anywhere from P10 to P30. Just yesterday morning, my high school grandniece asked me to buy her a yellow shirt for a program.
