Youth group seeks probe of fees collected by state colleges

MANILA, Philippines — Youth group Kabataan partylist has called on Congress to investigate the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) for allowing state universities and colleges to collect fees from students despite the government’s supposed free tertiary education program.

Kabataan party-list Rep. Sarah Elago filed a resolution urging the House committee on higher and technical education to probe the legality of the CHEd’s order allowing the collection of 141 types of school fees under the Unified Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (Unifast) Act.

“It is apparent that the state, whose mandate is to provide free quality education to all, has instead chosen to make a business of education. If the administration truly believes that education is a right, then it should not come with a price,” Elago said.

The Unifast Act, or Republic Act 10687,  signed into law in October last year,  supposedly  puts under one body all government-funded scholarships, grants-in-aid, student loans  in both public and private institutions. —Melvin Gascon