Marcos urged to repeal free tuition law, expand voucher program

Advocacy group Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) on Thursday urged the Marcos administration to repeal the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act, which provides free tuition for state universities and colleges.

In a virtual forum that tackled the President's State of the Nation Address, FEF president Calixto Chikiamco suggested to the current administration several structural reforms which may place the country on a “sustainable growth track.” 

One is the revocation of the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act that was signed into law by former President Rodrigo Duterte in August 2017 and has taken effect

Chikiamco said he believes that scholarships should be given to underprivileged students instead, as those enrolling in state institutions were from middle and upper-middle classes.

“I think we need to repeal the Free Tertiary Education Act or the Free College Tuition Law. Studies have shown that it has not been inclusive, that actually, those enrolling in state institutions are from middle class and upper-middle class,” he said.

“I think a better system would be to give scholarships to the poor,” he added.

Chikiamco also suggested the expansion of scholarships for the poor and voucher system, and review of the curriculum and teachers’ training.

GMA News Online sought comment from Malacañang as well as Senator Sonny Angara, one of the authors of the law, on the repeal call,  but they have yet to respond as of posting.

Meanwhile, ahead of the start of the School Year 2022-2023 on August 22, Stratbase ADR Institute president Dindo Manhit said that face-to-face classes should not be required to all students as it is “never the policy from the point of view of modern distance learning education.”

The Department of Education (DepEd) earlier announced that schools will only be allowed to hold blended learning schedules and full-distance learning until October 31, while starting November 2, all public and private schools should have transitioned to 5 days of in-person classes.

Further assessing the SONA, Manhit pointed out that Marcos’ 19 legislative priorities and eight-point agenda are “a good start,” but their plans of action need to be explained to the public in order to address their most pressing concerns.

He cited the latest Pulse Asia survey, showing that controlling inflation is the main concern of Filipinos at present.

Other issues that Filipinos found urgent were fighting graft and corruption in the government (20%), enforcing the law on all, whether influential or ordinary people (15%), fighting criminality (14%), and promoting peace in the country (14%), according to the survey.

“These plans of action still need to be explained and so these could address Filipinos’ most urgent concerns and we need to feel this execution in the next few months,” Manhit said.—LDF, GMA News