PUP students hurl chairs, tables vs planned tuition hike
MANILA, Philippines - Students at the state-owned Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) walked out of their classes and hurled chairs and tables out of their classrooms Friday.
The reason? PUP school officials are planning to increase their tuition by 1,700 percent.
“May finals po kami, eh kaya lamang po naisip ko, kung darating iyong panahon na hindi na kami makapag-finals sa darating na taon kasi mataas na ang tuition fee dito. Kaya mas pinili namin na lumabas po ngayong araw na ito,” said PUP student Mel Aquilar.
Aguilar was one of those who walked out of his class Friday to protest the looming increase in tuition.
During the protest activity, even chairs and tables were thrown out of classrooms.
From P12 per unit, students of PUP which is a state university, will have to shell out P200 per unit or an increase of almost 1,700 percent.
But PUP officials said that only incoming freshmen will be covered by the tuition increase.
Around 50,000 freshmen are expected to enroll in PUP this coming school year.
Students said they were not consulted about the hike in fees.
“Hindi barabariko ang mga estudyante. Nagpapakita lamang iyan na galit na galit na sila,” said Donna Pascual, PUP student regent.
No tuition hike for 30 years
But PUP officials insisted the tuition hike is needed to improve the school's facilities.
“Ang PUP for the past 30 years, hindi siya nag-increase ng tuition fees… Wala na kaming magagawa dahil nag-increase na ang lahat eh. Nag-increase ang cost ng papel, increase ang mga office supplies pati iyong mga electrical supplies na kailangan namin, pati ang power, mga utilities,” said PUP president Dante Guevarra.
Guevarra added that the school administration does not need to consult its students about the matter because only incoming students are covered by the increase.
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED), however, said that state universities should consider the economic status of their students.
“Ang purpose kasi ng mga state universities and colleges ay talaga namang di gaanong kataasan ang tuition fees iyan dahil iyan nagca-cater sa less privileged sectors ng society,” said Atty. Julito Vitriolo, CHED executive director.
The PUP Board of Regents will meet again to decide if they will push through with the tuition increase.
But for the students, the protests will continue.
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education is a RIGHT not a PRIVILEDGE
Such scenario is very frustrating.
By increasing the tuition fee into an enormous 200 pesos per unit, aren't we suppressing the rights of every Filipino people who are anticipating to enroll in PUP?
Given that there have been no tuition fee increase for the past 30 years, but is it reasonable to pass this burden to the students? Isn’t it that it is the government’s obligation to provide quality education for the under privileged individuals who are eager to learn? So why not provide more budget to this kind of institution? This holds true not only for PUP but to other State Universities as well.
in my own opinion i think
in my own opinion i think that the government will think a lot more on how to help these students when it comes to financial support with their studies rather than keeping the money or using it into something rubbish. our country is now getting even more appalling.
we always say that the youth is our future but how are we going to do that if we cannot get a good quality of education becuase of the tuituon keep arising every single year.
i don't know if i had my opinion and thoughts clearly on this but i hope it did make sense...