CHEd can shut down substandard schools

The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has enough powers in its mandate to crack down on inferior courses offered in colleges and universities, according to one of the agency’s original commissioners.

Mona Valisno, who served as managing commissioner of CHEd when this was spun off from the education department in 1994, said the agency could take a tougher stance against substandard college programs.

“CHEd has enough powers to do what it needs to do,” Valisno said in a recent interview.

While acknowledging that closure orders are not easy to implement, Valisno believes CHEd’s legal mandate backs up its efforts to weed out college offerings that not meet quality standards set by CHEd.

She was referring to Republic Act 7722 or the Higher Education Act of 1994 which defined CHEd’s powers over all higher education institutions.

Its mandate includes granting incentives and imposing sanctions “such as the dimunition or withdrawal of subsidy, downgrading or withdrawal of accreditation, program termination or school closure.”

The law said CHEd would also “peform such other functions as may be necessary for its effective operations and for the continued enhancement, growth or development of higher education.”

“They have the mandate to close down (substandard programs). CHEd should not be afraid to force their closure when needed,” Valisno stressed.

“Why should they be afraid?,” added Valisno, who as former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s adviser on education also briefly served as education secretary in the last few months of the Arroyo administration.INQUIRER