City public schools won’t collect graduation fees

CEBU, Philippines -  The Department of Education-Cebu City division assured that if the proposed city ordinance providing for graduation fee subsidy to all public elementary and se-condary schools in the city would be approved, the schools will not anymore ask graduation contributions from the students.

“Ato nang paningkamutan kay di ba mao may purpose sa ordinance, to give subsidy and para wala nay samok,” said Danilo Gudelosao, DepEd Cebu City division education program supervisor.

Based on the proposed ordinance, the city government shall allot a minimum of P3 million every year under the City Sponsored Activities Account in the Annual Budget for all public elementary and secondary schools in the city to subsidize the expenses for their respective graduation ceremonies.

In the said amount, the city government will allocate P150 for each student for the graduation fees.

Gudelosao said that during graduations, the schools only get the budget for graduation in the monthly Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) of each school given by DepEd that is why parents contribute for graduation expenses.

“Pwede makakuha didto sa (MOOE) og expense para graduation nga dili mosobra og P250 per student. Ang P150 is good enough pero tan-awn pa namo naa pa miy taas nga discussion with the school heads, and the supervisors on how we are going to implement it when the ordinance will be approved by the body (council),” Gudelosao said yesterday, during the public hearing of the proposed ordinance.

Section 2.3 of the proposed ordinance states that “the city of Cebu may increase its Graduation Fee Subsidy taking into consideration an increase in the number of graduates, inflation, etc.”

He added that once the proposed ordinance will be approved, there is a possibility that MOOE will only be spent on the regular expen-ses of the school.

Gudelosao elaborated that the MOOE would vary for each school, depending on the number of enrollees.

Based on DepEd’s data, for this coming March, there will be 26,814 graduating students from elementary and secondary schools in the city.

During the graduation last March, at least six schools did not ask for any contribution from the parents while some asked for a certain amount like P100 and below.

Earlier, he said that if in case they will notice schools asking for too much contribution, DepEd will immediately call the attention of the principal.

“Magsugod man gyud na kun naay ginikanan nga mo-file og complaint, amo ng imbestigaron,” he said.

He added that they will still determine where the contributions would go, through a resolution between the parents and school.

“Depende sa ginikanan kay mag-meeting mana, in fact ang eskuylahan mo suggest lang pero ang magdala gyud sa desisyon ang mga ginikanan,” he said.

Councilor Alvin Dizon, who heads the City Council’s Committee on Education and the proponent of the proposed ordinance, said he is optimistic that his fellow councilors will support him on his proposed measure.

“Natan-aw man gud nako nga daghan g’yud nga mga ginikanan ang maproblema intawon panahon sa graduation sa ilang mga anak kay duna ma’y gastohan. Kun maaprobahan kini nga ordinansa, ang City Hall na ang moabaga sa gastohan sa mga tunghaan,” Dizon said in an earlier interview.

After the proposed ordinance’s approval, the Cebu City Local School Board will draft policies and guidelines on how the public elementary and secondary schools can avail of the city’s graduation fee subsidy and shall be presented to the City Council for approval. (FREEMAN)