Coping with tuition hikes

The summer break offers no respite to Filipino parents and guardians working to raise money for the education of their children.

In Central Visayas, at least 26 private elementary and high schools will raise tuition  in the academic year that opens this June.

The figure, said Dr. Marcial Degamo of the Department of Education in Central Visayas, may double after the May 15 deadline for schools to fulfill  requirements for enforcing an increase.

These include a letter of intent, the minutes and resolutions of consultation meetings with Parents Teachers Associations and records showing that the schools complied with the law when enforcing previous tuition hikes.

Under the law, 70 percent of  a tuition fee increase should go to faculty salaries, 20 percent to the improvement of school infrastructure and 10 percent to return of investment.

Degamo said one factor behind the tuition  hikes is the pressure to keep faculty members.  He said private school teachers are at risk of transferring to better-paying public schools.

If this is the case, then first of all, the Department of Education should check where tuition increases are being spent properly  in private schools.

If  schools have been  increasing tuition levels , why are teacher pay levels still weak enough to risk losing mentors to government schools?

Second, the time has come for  DepEd  to actually attend private schools’ consultation meetings with parents and teachers about tuition fee hikes.

What appears on paper as an agreement between parents, teachers and school administrators on costlier schooling is not necessarily a fruit of democratic dialogue.

As Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino lamented last month, there is a longstanding trend of schools unilaterally imposing tuition  hikes, guidelines notwithstanding.

Third, DepEd and private school officials should be transparent about  spending  money earmarked by the government for helping students and teachers under R.A. 6728 or the Expanded Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Act.

Otherwise, lawmakers should examine if the law needs to be amended to increase the proportion of the budget allotted for this crucial subsidy.

Fourth, affluent alumni of private schools and social responsibility arms of big businesses should step up as patrons of education.

With wealth concentrated in their hands, the upper class should set an example of selflessness and philanthropy by sponsoring more scholars and setting up endowment funds for teachers.