Published on Thursday, 06 June 2013 00:00 ;Written
by AMADO P. MACASAET
‘The educational system in both public and
private schools has long begun to rot. The solution as far as private schools
are concerned may be found in raising tuition fees.’
(Note: This piece was written a day after the Commission on
Higher Education said tuition hikes should be decided by the Supreme Court. The
tribunal has since denied a petition to junk the CHED-approved hikes on the
ground that the petitioners had not exhausted all administrative remedies.)
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said
late last week that the question of the petition of colleges and universities
to raise tuition must be left to the Supreme Court.
To a layman like me, nothing in this issue
borders on the question of law. It is a question of appreciating the facts.
Therefore the dispute is not within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court which
does not try facts.
The Court’s only function is to interpret the
Constitution and the laws.
The question of the petition for higher
tuition fees properly belongs to the CHED. It is not a bad idea for the
commission to conduct an independent audit of the finances of all colleges and
universities asking for higher fees.
These institutions must earn enough not just
to make a profit but to be able to hire more competent professors in all fields
of discipline. The money cannot come from anywhere else but the parents of the
students.
There is no other way except for the state to
expand its wholly-owned colleges and universities which should require nominal
tuition fees but pay the teachers a handsome salary to attract the competent
ones. This is the only way of ensuring that high school graduates may get
a chance at having a sound college education.
This space repeatedly asserts that the
educational system should encourage even elementary school graduates to learn a
trade or two. Learning electrical repair, automotive mechanics, carpentry, or
handicraft requires less brain, less money.
It is the adept hands and dedication to work
that gives a better chance to high school graduates whose parents do not have
enough money to pay tuition fees of their children.
We have to learn the lesson from having more
than one half million registered nurses who are jobless. The few who find
employment work in casinos as card dealers, in call centers and BPOs. Some are
care givers. The rest are jobless.
A famous British essayist said about four
centuries ago, “If you find education expensive, try ignorance.” Higher
education has a cost. The cost does not bother the rich although sometimes rich
children are less fit for higher education than the poor.
That is the very reason the poor should learn
some arts and trades.
The CHED should go out of its way to seek out
poor high school graduates who have the brains but whose parents do not have
the money to send them to universities or colleges. Not even in the
provinces.
For the record, De La Salle University has a
very large number of scholars who are children of poor parents. The University
of the Philippines, the Polytechnic University and many other state-owned
colleges accept scholars.
The fees in these schools are remarkably
smaller. Small fees mean a lot to parents who practically starve themselves out
to see a son or daughter with high level of intellect to finish a college
course.
Where does he go if the state does not help
him or her?
The question of higher fees should be allowed
on condition that the additional money to be raised from the students is to be
used to hire more competent teachers. Otherwise, the petition for higher fees
should be flatly denied.
In this regard, the Supreme Court should not
have any jurisdiction over petition for higher tuition fees. Not only because
it will try facts.
More important, costs of everything are rising
although government statistics say the upward movement of prices has been slow
at about 3 percent a year.
Here we might apply what Disraeli, the famous
British philosopher and author, once said: “Lies, damn lies and
statistics.”
Lower tuition fees barely enough to leave the
school owners a modest profit sacrifice the quality of education. Therefore the
fees must be raised to improve the education of college students.
Otherwise graduates who must earn a living by
any means end up as taxi drivers, waiters (most waiters these days are
graduates of hotel and restaurant management and tourism), handyman ... you
name it. They are there.
The lazy bones loaf and continue to depend on
their parents.
We must be in complete agreement with the
reality that higher education is not exclusively for those who can afford it.
The fees in better schools, particularly the
non-profit, tax-exempt Catholic educational institutions schools are excessive
for the poor. But their graduates find it easier to get a job than those who
finished a degree course in a school of inferior standards. The sharp mind of a
poor high school graduate cannot get sharper if he or she enrolls in a school
not known for being competent in any field of discipline.
The Supreme Court cannot pass judgment on the
intellect of a student.
If the sharp mind can get sharper from a
school that hires more competent teachers because it can afford to pay higher
salaries from money raised from the parents of students, the educational system
will be able to help raise young minds in a way that fits the needs of the
times.
The simple fact is public education has
hopelessly deteriorated as a result of the bloated population. In my time in
the late forties, there were only about 20 pupils in my class in Grade I.
Today, the average number is probably higher
than 50. There is a shortage of classrooms for first graders every school year.
Many classroom teachers are not dedicated to education.
They took the less expensive education course
because of assurance of landing a job considering the continued shortage of
teachers. The educational system in both public and private schools has long
begun to rot.
The solution as far as private schools are
concerned may be found in raising tuition fees.
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