UP Manila students hold memorial rally for Kristel Tejada

Graduating students of the University of the Philippines Manila held a lightning rally during the 107th UP Manila Commencement Exercises at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) on Friday to remember behavioral sciences student Kristel Tejada.

Tejada, who took her life in 2012 due to matriculation problems, would have been included in the approximately 1,200 graduates of UP Manila this year.

[Read: Kristel was like a 'saling pusa' at UPM, her mother laments]

"Kristel should have been wearing the esteemed sablay, sitting beside her fellow graduates inside the halls of PICC, and celebrating the highly-anticipated moment with her parents, but the oppressive education system has not allowed this to happen," said Pholyn Balahadia, chairperson of the UP Manila University Student Council.

Balahadia added that the high cost of education even in state universities and colleges which are supposed to offer affordable education has crushed the hopes of "Iskolars ng Bayan" for a better future.

"The case of Kristel exemplifies what's fundamentally flawed with the country's educational system. Collection of high tuition and other school fees especially in public universities ultimately discourages poor students to continue studying. Worse, it even to leads to students taking their own lives due to dreams of a prosperous future it has consequently shattered," explained Balahadia.

Balahadia vowed to continue the fight for accessible and quality education to give justice to the death of Kristel.

"Four years after the untimely demise of Kristel, nothing much has improved in the state of education in the country. As such, the youth promises to tirelessly campaign for free public higher education so that Kristel's death will not be considered as just another cold statistics," Balahadia said. — APG, GMA News