Mandaue City College to become a state college

CEBU, Philippines —  Mandaue City Lone District Rep. Emmarie Ouano-Dizon has filed a bill that seeks to convert the Mandaue City College into a state college to be known as the “Mandaue State College”.

Ouano-Dizon, in her bill’s explanatory note, stated that the bill aims to ensure its fiscal autonomy, enhance its academic standards, and provide accessible and affordable but quality education to poor but deserving students.

Ouano-Dizon said that pursuing  a college degree is almost impossible for many poverty-stricken residents of Mandaue given the high cost of transportation, personal sustenance, and other necessary expenses that go with the equally high cost of education, especially in private universities and colleges in Cebu City and in Mandaue City itself.

She said that this also holds true for neighboring communities where incidence of poverty is also high.

In an effort to address this problem, the local government of the City of Mandaue seeks to establish the Mandaue State College with the objective of providing accessible and affordable tertiary, vocational, and technical education to the youth of the city.

 It is also hoped that the establishment of the College will stimulate more economic activity in the area and provide residents with the opportunity to acquire skills and education necessary for them to obtain decent and stable jobs for the improvement of their economic and social standing, and for their total development as individuals as well.

It is the State’s mandate to establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education relevant to the needs of society, said Ouano-Dizon.

With the establishment of the Mandaue State College, Ouano-Dizon seeks to secure adequate support and appropriate funds from the national budget to ensure that the institution has the necessary facility, personnel, and instructional materials which are at par with other tertiary learning institutions.

Section 3 of the proposed meaure states that the said college shall offer undergraduate and graduate studies in the fields of engineering, industrial technologies, business, arts, sciences, and other degrees or courses within its areas of specialization and according to its capabilities, as the Board of Trustees may deem necessary to carry out its objectives, in order to meet the needs of the Province of Cebu and Region VII.

The said college may operate a reasonably-sized laboratory school if it has a College of Education. — JMD  (FREEMAN)