Nationwide protests vs tuition hikes set June 13

When colleges start classes next Wednesday, militant youth and student groups will lead nationwide protests to protest tuition and other fee increases. Aside from scoring "abusive" school owners, the groups chided the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for allegedly faltering in its responsibility to Filipino students. "The CHED has been reduced into a mere monitoring agency. Despite formal complaints and protests from students and parents, CHED remains toothless even as to implementing its limp guidelines in holding so-called consultations," Kabataan party president Raymond Palatino said. Kabataan Party and the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) will lead the protests against the tuition hikes and CHED's supposed lack of political will to stand up to private school owners. Palatino said CHED, for the past years, has miserably failed to implement meaningful and significant reforms in higher education. It has also lacked political will to stand up against abusive private school owners, he said. He said the higher percentages and increase in the number of tuition increases this school year only confirmed fears that CHED's last-minute policy change raising the tuition cap will make it easier for school owners to impose bigger hikes in tuition and other fees. "The lifting of the tuition cap only shows the Commission can be quickly maneuvered by private school owners," he added. Palatino urged lawmakers to speed up investigations and review the Education Act of 1982 which students since the 1980's have been fighting to be scrapped. He also called on lawmakers to probe schools which are frequently included in the top 5,000 corporations in the country and freeze planned tuition increases for the coming school year. Among these schools are Centro Escolar University (CEU), Far Eastern University (FEU), Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT), University of the East (UE), AMA Computer University and STI Colleges. - GMANews.TV