By Johanne Margarette R. Macob
DAGUPAN CITY, July 28 (PNA)– A bill which seeks to fully subsidize tuition fees in all state universities and colleges (SUCs) for students enrolled in any undergraduate and certificate degree courses is now pending approval in Congress.
“I filed a bill to make college education free in the country,” said Valenzuela City Congressman Sherwin Gatchalian, in a talk to the members of the media during his visit in Dagupan City on July 28.
House Bill No. 5905 or the Free Higher Education Act, if approved, will cover all Filipino citizens who are either enrolled at the time of enactment of this bill or any time after, provided they maintain good academic and moral standing.
Gatchalian, a majority member of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, underscored on the importance of college education.
He previously said that under his landmark bill, the tuition fees to be paid by the students will instead be paid directly by the government to the SUCs through the Special Tuition Subsidy Fund which shall be created, and to be managed by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
In an interview, Gatchalian noted that education, along with health, shall be given the top priority by the government in order to reduce the “still high” poverty levels.
He further said that his bill is possible as its proposed budget in making SUCs tuition-free for about 1.3 million students is only less than one percent or 0.35 percent of the P3-trillion national appropriations for next year.
An initial amount of P10.5 billion shall be initially appropriated from the Presidential Social Fund to implement the proposed measure, he said.
Meanwhile, the congressman who is also a majority member of the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture, vowed to closely monitor the implementation of the K to 12 curriculum.
He cited there are two components of the K to 12 program they are further looking at, especially in regard to the implementation of the senior high school next year.
These are (1) the displacement of around 15,000 college teaching and non-teaching personnel and (2) the 30,000 classrooms needed to be built and 35,000-40,000 teachers to be hired to cater to the incoming about two million senior high school students.
He said the CHED has already requested P8 to 10 million fund from the national government to support the continuing studies of those who will be displaced.
Further, the construction of additional classrooms and hiring of additional teachers has been allocated with P50 billion budget, he said.
The lawmaker, on the one hand, disclosed his plan of running for senator in the 2016 elections under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC). (PNA)