Monday, December 24, 2007 Socialized tuition scheme eyed to save UP high school
FEARING an eventual phase-out of the University of the Philippines (UP) High School in Cebu because of financial woes, the school administration wants to adopt a socialized tuition scheme to save it.
But implementing the plan is still being studied as an alternative system under Republic Act (RA) No. 6655, or the Free Public Secondary Education Act of 1988, which provides for a free public secondary education to all qualified citizens and promotes quality education at all levels.
School principal Purita Baltazar said her office received a memorandum from UP in the Visayas Cebu College (UPVCC) Dean Enrique Avila last Nov. 23 directing them to reduce enrolment quota to only one section per year, effective June 2008.
Hiring
The school was also disallowed from hiring replacements of faculty members who either retired or resigned from service.
The reason was that UP is primarily a tertiary institution.
This is contained in her letter to Renan Dalisay, Sen. Francis Pangilinan’s chief of staff who graduated from “UP High” in 1984.
Sun.Star Cebu received a copy of the letter, which was also posted on the school’s “UP Naming Mahal” blog.
“We understand that the problem is really economics. The high school is a non-earning program for it does not charge any tuition. We don’t want the reduction (in the number of students) to happen because eventually it will mean the total phase-out of the school. There are so many promising youth we could help if the high school continues,” said Baltazar.
For Dalisay, the proposed socialized tuition policy, which will allow the school to accept a certain percentage from the more affluent students who will pay the full tuition fee, can be explored through an RA 6655 amendment by Congress.
Feeder
“We are attempting at devising a socialized tuition scheme for the high school similar to what the college has, and find a way to get around RA 6655,” Baltazar said.
She said that with half of its graduates enrolling across the street for their college education, UP High is still a “feeder” to UPVCC.
“Our students are doing very well at UP (in the Visayas) Cebu College. In fact, in 2005 and 2006, the class valedictorians of UP Cebu College were both valedictorians of UP High School Cebu,” she said.
And UP High has also contributed in the public education’s enhancement in Cebu City.
Baltazar said faculty members have also conducted several researches testing innovative teaching methods and instructional materials whose results were shared with the Department of Education. (NRC)
