SCHOOLS sought clarification from the Baguio City Council on a request to grant tuition discounts.
Annie Marie Caguioa, president of the Baguio City Association of Private School Administrators (BC-APSA) and assistant directress of the Saint Louis School, Inc. (Center), said the resolution brought tension because the council move may bring learning institutions to the verge of possible ceasing of operations.
“[This is] due to the fact that almost all schools that have not finished the 4th quarter have much uncollected fees and are obliged by law to provide salaries to their school personnel, if the private schools cease operation because of financial concerns, what will happen? This will imply loss of jobs for the school personnel and displacement of learners.”
APSA has at least 200 member schools in its roster that comprise learning institutions from the preschool, elementary and high school.
Caguioa was with APSA VP for Senior High School and Academic Affairs, Marlon Angaga from the St. Joseph de Mary Academy, Inc. and lawyer Ron Perez from the Federation of Parent Teacher Association during this week’s council session to clarify and explain why giving discounts and money schemes to parents is not feasible.
The APSA statement explained salaries are budgeted from the start of classes and this is the priority budget.
“With this pandemic, school administrators are breaking their heads for they are at a crossroad. How will they assist the school personnel? How will they ensure that quality learning will be continually delivered to the learners? How will they help parents financially if the school has high uncollected fees?” the APSA statement read.
Previously, the city council approved Resolution 229 - 2020 on “Earnestly Requesting Baguio Based Schools, Universities, Colleges and Training Centers to Grant Tuition Fee Discounts.”
The APSA said “Upon the release of said resolution, it immediately circulated among parents and students and it stirred varied reactions that brought misinterpretations, false hopes, anxiety, and even intimidation of some parents towards the private schools. While it cannot be discounted that there were those who conveyed their plight to the school administrators with kindness and prudence, others expressed apparent jubilation through their harsh and irresponsible comments on the FB page of some schools. Others became rude and unprofessional that they tried to threaten the school by saying they will bash the school through the social media. This scenario alarmed the private school administrators; hence, we came up with the following realizations.”
APSA asked the city council to issue a statement clarifying that the previous resolution was a request, not a direct mandate for the private schools to follow.
The APSA said in a bid to help parents in the coming semester most schools have expressed a retraction of tuition increase for next academic year.
APSA said “With this, we are hoping for the understanding of parents as the school also understands their situation but we really have to balance things. Otherwise, the school of their children will cease operation and will cause displacement of their children as well as loss of job for the school personnel.”