Senate bill seeks free college entrance exams for underprivileged students

Underprivileged but bright and deserving high school students won't have to pay for college entrace exams, if a pending Senate bill is passed into law.

 

Senate Bill 3256 or the Free College Entrace Exam Act seeks to provide free college entrance examinations to underpivileged public high school students who belong to the top 10 percent of the graduating class and who plan to apply for admission in any public or private higher eduation institution in the country for a degree program.

 

"The exemption from the imposition of entrance examination fees is one such mechanism that will ensure that underprivileged, but bright and deserving high school graduates, are given adequate assistance and equal opportunity to pursue their dreams of obtaining a college education," says the measure, authored by Senator Manuel Villar Jr.

 

To be eligible under the act, a student beneficiary must fulfill the following requirements:

 

 

SB 3256 says that any school official or employee and other individuals found guilty of violating the act shall suffer the penalty of prision correccional (imprisonment from six months and one day to six years) and a fine of P750,000.

 

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) may likewise impose disciplinary sanctions against them.

 

In his explanatory note, Villar said data from CHED showed that enrollees in higher education institutions from 2011 to the present have reached 2.56 million but that the dropout rate reached an alarming 83.7 percent.

 

"This means that the country is producing 2.13 million college dropouts annually while graduates stand at close to 500,000 only," he said.

 

He likewise cited CHED records which showed that enrollment in tertiary education started slowing down since 1999. 

 

"Considering that more than 26.5 percent or 3.8 million Filipino families are living below the poverty line...access to tertiary educallon for bright and deserving children of these families would be almost impossible, especially if they do not have the means to pay even for an entrance examination, which is the initial step towards admission to a college degree program," he said.

 

"Thus, this bill aims to ensure that poor but deserving high school graduates are given equal opportunities in applying for college admission to higher education institutions by removing the first hindrance at the entry level, such as the prohibitive cost of entrance examinations," he added. — Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ, GMA News