Graduation, school fees

EDITORIAL

Graduation ceremonies are set in most schools in Northern Luzon and other parts of the country the next few days even as those who are about to leave the portals of educational institutions, particularly high students, are pondering what course to take and how they would finance these.  

But even after having passed their elementary, high school or college education, they are hampered by high graduation fees. It is the dream of every parent to make their children graduate a course so they could make their lives better and that of their families. Can the government give free education to all as espoused by some legislators?

"We should make public education absolutely free," Sen. Alan Cayetano said last week when asked to comment on violations by several schools on the ban on imposing graduation fees issued by the Department of Education. "Otherwise, we will continue the sad cycle of children dropping out of school just to support their families. In this case, the students skip their graduation rites because they cannot afford it."

Cayetano said the only way to make this memorandum effective is to cover the fees incurred by schools, saying in Taguig, they don't have this problem because the city continued his program of ensuring there is enough budget to cover all expenses not only for graduation, but also uniforms, text books, school supplies, the electric bill, and even the prom.

Cayetano said teachers and heads of universities charge graduation fees because they are not making enough income or have insufficient MOOE (maintenance and other operating expenses). "A lot of schools do not have enough income, so we cannot blame them for having to resort to charging fees for special occasions like graduation. But in Taguig, in continuing my educational programs, the city has been waiving the graduation fees of all 34 public schools the past two years."

Cayetano said that for this year’s graduation, Taguig City is sponsoring the graduation fees of 17,613 public school students. This is in addition to the scholarships given by the city to all students of the graduating class and also to the most outstanding student of each class in all levels both in elementary and high school. 

He said Mayor Lani Revilla improved educational funding program and doubled the city’s scholarship fund, going from P100 million in 2011 to P200 million this year. “This was done through careful re-allocation of funds and strict budgeting of public resources. I urge the national government and other local government units (LGUs) to study the model that we used."

According to Cayetano, the national government should also share this burden with LGUs by allocating part of the budget of DepEd to subsidize graduation fees, especially in poorer provinces and municipalities.

Cayetano noted that with the P30 billion increase in the DepEd budget for 2013, the agency has to put equal focus on all important aspects of the Basic Education Enhancement Program and at the same time, relieve the burden of the poor from these additional expenses.