Tuition hike in Catholic schools defended

FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Catholic schools need to increase their tuition fees or they will risk losing teachers to public schools offering a better pay, according to an official of the Manila Archdiocesan and Parochial Schools Association.

Defending the need for a 10-percent hike in tuition fees among Catholic schools, MAPSA president Msgr. Gerry Santos said these schools have to resort to such a move to prevent a shortage of teachers and instructors demanding higher salary.

Santos pointed out that the starting salary for Catholic school teachers ranges between P11,000 and P14,000 a month while their counterpart in public schools receive a higher monthly pay of at least P19,000.

“So our salary is way below what the government is giving,” said Santos, a former president of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines.

His statements were posted on CBCPNews, the official news service of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on Monday.

The Department of Education has recently allowed 903 private elementary and high schools and 354 private colleges and universities to increase their tuition and other school fees this coming school year.

The 903 private schools represent six percent of the 15,429 private elementary and high schools in the country.

MAPSA, a non-profit association of parochial schools, is composed of at least 117 member schools within the Ecclesiastical Province of Manila.

Santos appealed to parents and critics for understanding on why some Catholic schools were implementing a tuition fee increase this school year.

“Just passing this 10-percent increase was even hard for the Board of Trustees for fear that we will lose students. But if [we] don’t do this, the teachers will also move to public schools,” said the official.