IN A bid to continue education, learning intuitions in Baguio City were asked to suspend tuition hikes.
Councilor Vladimir Cayabas asked private schools, universities, colleges and other learning institutions to defer school fee increases for the ensuing school year 2020 – 2021. He also implored the Department of Education (DepEd), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) and Commission on Higher Education (Ched) to extend assistance to lowly private schools to prevent them from closure due to the impact of Covid-19.
The resolution was made and approved by the City Council during its regular session on Monday, June 20, 2020.
Cayabas said prior to the escalation of the pandemic in the Philippines, just like other learning institutions in other parts of the country, some private schools, colleges and universities situated in the locality already applied, complied and even earlier permitted to effect an increase in their school fees for the academic year 2020 to 2021.
“With the crisis that affects everyone especially the livelihood of our ordinary citizens like the sources of income of parents of students, any increase in school fees is not practical, humanitarian and logical at this time. Any upward adjustment of school fees may even increase the number of school dropouts and out of school youth within the locality, which is highly detrimental to our city’s youth empowerment and human resource development program,” the alderman said.
To balance the cause, his resolution also urged DepEd, Tesda, and Ched to promptly consider supporting badly affected private schools based in the city through technical provision, manpower training, subsidy, loan, or any other kind of assistance which the law may allow. This is to help critically impacted learning institutions to survive amid this crisis and to ensure their continued growth and operation to the best interest of the learning public.
“Survival or sustenance assistance to private schools will likewise be of great help to preempt possible mass layoff to teachers and other school personnel,” added Cayabas.
Earlier, DepEd Cordillera announced it has received closure intention from six schools in the region due to various reasons not related to the coronavirus.
Baguio City Schools Division Superintendent Marie Carolyn Verano said that for Baguio City, five schools have informed the Education Division Office of its intention to stop operation.