DepEd approves tuition hike in 241 more private schools

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Education (DepEd) has allowed an additional 241 private elementary and high schools to raise tuition fees this year, bringing the total to 1,144 schools.

This represents 10 percent of the 11,370 private elementary and high schools in the entire country (not 15,429 as previously reported).

The DepEd is still evaluating the cases of 76 other schools even as it turned down 115 schools that were not able to justify their application for a tuition hike.

The additional 241 tuition hike approvals involved schools from four regions—the Cagayan Valley, Central Visayas, the Zamboanga Peninsula and Davao.

In Cagayan Valley, 38 of 44 private schools were given the green light, while 68 of 91 schools in Davao got their application for fee increases approved.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has also approved the increase in tuition and school fees this year for 354 private colleges and universities, representing 21 percent of the 1,683 higher education institutions in the country, excluding those in the ARMM.