Thursday, August 24, 2006
Militant students to hold walkout protest Thursday
By Barbara Carla R. Quiero
AROUND 500 militant students all over Davao City are set to stage a walkout protest Thursday afternoon in opposition to various issues, including alleged commercialization of education, proposed Charter change (Cha-cha), political killings and campus repression.
A march rally and open art exhibit will also be held at the Rizal Park from 1 to 6 p.m. Thursday.
Kabataan Party Southern Mindanao Region spokesperson Joseph Kelvin Thompson said the protest activity will be participated in by the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), League of Filipino Students (LFS), Anakbayan, and Student Christian Movement of the Philippines.
Thompson said they are calling for the government to do something about the commercialization of education not only in private and public schools as well as state universities.
"Today's education is no longer effective. The government has commercialized education just like selling a product," Thompson told Sun.Star Wednesday.
NUSP chair Paolo Cyrill Buela said the government has made education less accessible today.
Buela said there are about 1,300 private schools in the country but only 111 state universities.
"The budget for education has been continuously reduced and re-channeled to the all-out war against insurgents," Buela said.
He added that 50 percent of the youth today are forced to drop out from school because they could no longer afford the continued increase of school fees.
"Instead of making education more accessible, the government has allowed schools to increase tuition fees and other school fees," Buela said.
Meanwhile, Anakbayan spokesperson Nelly Sun said Cha-cha is intended only to keep the current administration in power.
"It would be another venue for the corrupt government of the Arroyo administration to pursue its plans, which are anti-social and anti-people, instead of upholding the cause of the masses," Sun said.
She added that proposing Cha-cha in time for the next presidential elections is very anomalous.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (August 24, 2006 issue)
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