MILITANT group Anakbayan-Cebu is creating a proposal to urge the Duterte administration to implement the free education for state universities and colleges (SUCs).
The senate earlier announced the appropriation of the P8-billion allocated budget to cover the tuition of around 1.4 million students of the 114 SUCs nationwide but President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed portions of the said budget proposal.
According to the group, students have already welcomed the free education proposal but it was easily snitched by setting guidelines and requirements to avail themselves of the free tuition.
"Instead of expecting more state subsidy for education, what we will witness is a scenario where SUCs are left on their own and make students pay for other students’ education. Instead of catering the marginalized, such scenario would justify the increases in tuition collection and other fees for state universities and colleges to operate on its own," the group said in a statement.
The group cited past administration's "Socialized Tuition Scheme" that defined tuition rates based on the students’ economic ladders.
The group added the scheme was implemented in the University of the Philippines but it did not work well and resulted into very low turnout of poor enrollees.
Anakbayan-Cebu is calling on all SUC stakeholders, especially the students, to take the opportunity to push for free education. (PR)