Oreta hits Roco over school fees

Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta claimed yesterday that Education Secretary Raul Roco was resorting to "doublespeak" in replying to her charge that the Department of Education, Culture and Sports has resumed the collection of miscellaneous fees from public school students that was earlier scrapped by the government.

Oreta said that Roco’s denial that he had issued a directive allowing the "compulsory" collection of school fees was "merely a play on words."

Earlier, Oreta questioned DECS Order No. 31 dated July 16 authorizing heads of public schools to collect fees "on a voluntary basis" for Girl Scout, Boy Scout, Anti-TB and Red Cross.

The DECS order specified the period within which these "voluntary collections" would be made, the earliest being Aug. 1 to 15 for Boy and Girl Scouts.

"Secretary Roco has merely resorted to a play on words. Every parent knows that these so-called voluntary contributions, while technically not compulsory, should be paid if their children enrolled in public schools are to remain in the good graces of their teachers," Oreta said.

She claimed that the collection of miscellaneous fees runs counter to the government policy removing these fees to encourage more disadvantaged children to enroll in public elementary and high schools.

Oreta, former chairwoman of the Senate committee on education, said DECS might have been forced to reverse its no-collection policy after realizing that the government does not have enough funds to pay for maintenance and emergency expenses and salaries of non-teaching personnel in the public schools. – Efren Danao