Tuesday, January 29, 2008 State university students plan mass walkout By Grace L. Plata
STATE colleges and universities students will be staging a mass walkout on February 1, 2008 in protest of what they call the commercialization of education in the country and the lack of support for state-owned institutions.
"Sa kabila ng mga ipinagmamayabang na programa sa edukasyon ng gobyernong Arroyo, hindi maitatanggi na ang edukasyon sa ating bansa ay nahaharap sa matinding krisis," said Makpil Camacho, OIC, University Student Council,
University of the Philippines-Mindanao (UPMin) and Vice-President for Mindanao of NUSP, Camacho said in Monday's press conference at the City Council Building that the increasing number of youth who cannot afford college is proof to the education crisis, which is perpetuated by "inutile" system and agencies governing education.
"These include the Commission on Higher Education (Ched), which has played deaf and blind to the students' complaints with regards to the process of tuition fee increases," Camacho said.
In state colleges and universities, Camacho said that administrators continue to propose increase in tuition and other fees as mandated by government policies.
"In UP, the tuition fee increased by 300 percent. This is based on the Long Term Higher Education Program of 2010 by the Arroyo administration, which is aimed at making public universities self-reliant in any way as long as it can generate funding for the institution," Camacho said.
Camacho added that one of the manifestations of this long term plan is the recently passed Senate Bill 1399 or the UP Charter, which gives right to the university administration to increase tuition and other fees and use it as they see fit without giving its major components like the students the benefit of consultation on the matter.
Even with the government's claim of increased funding for education, Camacho said, unjust increases in school fees continue and so with the number of youth who will be able to go to school.
"Bilang pagdidiriwang ng sigwa ng unang kwarto nd dekada 70, nararapat lamang na muling manindigan ang mga kabataan para sa karapatan nito sa edukasyon (In celebration of the first quarter storm of the 1970s in February, it is but proper for the youth to stand for their right to education)," Camacho said.
Camacho said among the schools that have signified to join the walkout are UP in Mindanao, University of Southeastern Philippines (Obrero and Mintal Campus), Cotabato Polytechnic University and the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan.
Students who will join the walkout will converge at the Rizal Park for a rally.
