As consumer prices soar and wages fail to keep pace with inflation, parents will surely welcome the order to freeze tuition rates in state colleges and universities or SCUs.
With tuition even in the University of the Philippines averaging P1,500 per unit, or P4,500 for a regular subject for one semester, the freeze order provides a respite for parents and working students, who are still trying to cope with surging fuel and food prices.
The order, issued by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), came too late for the enrollment period in most SCUs, so another order had to be issued yesterday for a refund of the tuition increase.
The CHED may have to issue another order providing for late enrollment. This will allow those who decided to skip college this school year, after being confronted with a tuition increase, to reconsider and enroll.
Tuition rates at all education levels have steadily risen over the years. Every increase takes its toll on those whose incomes cannot keep pace with rising prices. Official records show that the school dropout rate has worsened over the years, with a big percentage of students unable to make it past sixth grade.
The downside in the tuition freeze is that the SCUs, already operating on a tight budget, must cope with inflation without an increase in their earnings.
Tuition rates are generally market-driven, and there is a price to pay for government intervention, however limited, in market forces.
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SCUs are also facing demands for higher salaries from teachers and other personnel in the public education system.
State subsidies are limited. If teachers cannot make ends meet on the same salaries as prices surge, we are bound to lose more teachers to countries that can pay their educators better.
Philippine education, already in bad shape, is then likely to deteriorate further.
While the CHED can order a tuition freeze in SCUs, most private schools are unlikely to follow suit, much less refund the increase for this school year. Private schools can then continue investing in better facilities and can afford to hire the best teachers.
The widening gap in the operating expenses of private and public schools will be seen in the quality of their graduates.
Education, which should provide opportunities for liberation from poverty, has become a luxury beyond the reach of the Filipino masses.
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If the government wants to influence market forces, it should be in the form of a long-term commitment to improve public education so that its quality can be at par with or even better than what private schools can offer.
Financial constraints have forced an increasing number of students to transfer from private schools to government-run institutions, where education is either free or subsidized. This won’t be a problem if the quality of public education can compete with what the private schools can provide.
By raising standards in public schools and competing head to head with exclusive private institutions, the government will effectively compel private school operators to constantly strive for excellence and moderate their profit margins. Education for them, after all, is a business, and they must be prepared to stay in the game when their top competitor is the government.
This is not an impossible scenario. Until a few decades ago, Filipinos received the best education from public educational institutions. Problem children were sent to private schools where they could learn discipline.
The English proficiency of that generation of Filipinos is enviable. Their education had proper emphasis on mathematics, science and communication skills — meaning proficiency in both English and Filipino — rather than music and physical education, although the last two subjects are also worth learning.
The public school system at the time produced top-rate engineers, architects and experts in agriculture and the sciences.
It must be a reflection of the slide in the quality of Philippine education that today our workforce includes an inordinate number of karaoke-style singers, blue-collar workers and people who vacuum carpets and change bed linens for a living. Sure it’s honest work, but you have to envy other developing countries such as India, which has produced Google News creator Krishna Bharat.
The icons in these countries are high-tech innovators and manufacturers of the world’s cheapest car; our national icons are boxers and billiard players.
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It all boils down to education — from childhood all the way to graduate school.
If private schools can’t or won’t bring down tuition rates to make quality education affordable to more Filipinos, then the government must step in with its awesome resources.
Okay… because of its limited resources, the government may have to call a friend, or several friends. Surely there are enough foreign governments out there that are interested in providing aid for public education. This is a national emergency of sorts, and the government cannot brush aside the problem so it can be the headache of the next administration.
We have seen what the government can do when it strives for excellence in state-run schools. The Philippine Science High School and the University of the Philippines system continue to offer quality education.
Surely it’s not impossible to raise the standards in other public schools to levels similar to what those two state-funded schools can offer.
Between UP and most of the other exclusive private colleges and universities, parents and students alike will typically pick the state university. And the subsidized tuition will be a bonus, not the main reason for the choice.