Thursday, June 15, 2006
Student drop-out rate increasing, says Anakbayan
By Syril G. Repe
MILITANT youth group Anakbayan in Negros Oriental expressed alarm over the rate of students forced to drop out this school year.
Quoting data from the Commission on Higher Education (Ched), Anakbayan leader Springzeal Phelps Bacarro said the enrollment rate in private schools dropped by almost half.
Bacarro, a fourth year mass communication student at Silliman University, said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should focus on education not on changing the Constitution.
She noted that the government allocated P6.4 billion, which is equivalent to 17,000 classrooms, for the Charter change campaign.
The youth leader said the President's policy on education ran counter to reality.
In a recent statement Bacarro said, President Arroyo had stated that education was a flagship concern of her administration and that "...we will not stop until we can deliver all available resources to build classrooms led by the competent teachers, and with the books, facilities and modern tools of learning".
But the Anakbayan leader said that instead of allocating higher budget to education she poured billions of pesos for charter change.
Bacarro said school owners were likely to pass the brunt of paying additional expenses to parents and students.
School administrations, she said, might also use the expanded Value Added Tax law to justify bigger hikes in tuition and the imposition of new school fees.
Bacarro said some 458 private schools were increasing their tuition and other miscellaneous fees this year compared to last year's 246.
(June 15, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
