The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has allowed 267 schools nationwide, including 14 colleges and universities in Western Visayas to raise their tuition fees by at most 10 percent this school year.

This got the ire of Kabataan Party-list Panay.

In a press release sent to The News Today, Kabataan Party-list condemned President Benigno Aquino III and the CHED for allowing the said tuition hike.

"Mahal ang edukasyon sa matuwid na daan. Many families cannot send their children to school anymore because of rising prices, poverty, and unemployment," said Kabataan Party-list 4th Nominee and Panay Spokesperson Karlo Mikhail Mongaya in a press release sent to The News Today.

The group reported that Western Visayas schools that increased their tuition include the Garcia College of Technology in Aklan, the two campuses of the Guimaras State College, the Pandan Bay Institute in Antique, and the St. Therese-MTC Colleges and the University of Iloilo here in Iloilo.

The group said that because of the yearly cuts on the education budget, even state universities and colleges that are supposed to provide more accessible education for those who cannot afford commercialized private education will have tuition increases, such as the Guimaras State College.

"The nonstop tuition and other fees hikes have caused many untold miseries to parents and their children who are forced to stop schooling due to the high cost of education," Mongaya said.

The group cited government data that for every 100 students who enter Grade 1, only 66 finish Grade 6, while only 43 will be able to finish high school. Only 23 will be able to continue studying college and only 14 will graduate.

The National Union of Students of the Philippines-Panay (NUSP-Panay) meanwhile pointed out that the yearly increase in tuition and other fees is unjust and has not led to an improvement in the quality of education with CHED admitting that only 5.5 percent of all tertiary schools having adequate facilities.

"The truth is that the biggest private schools in the country are earning millions of pesos in profits from the dubious and exorbitant fees being made to pay from parents and students. These schools have consistently been in the country's top 1,000 corporations," said NUSP-Panay Coordinator and University of the Philippines Visayas Student Council officer JP Fuego.

The student council alliance also questioned the lack of genuine student consultations in the approval of the fee increases, particularly in the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City.

According to Fuego, "the students of USLS filed complaints and even had a petition against the tuition hike but like in the case of many other schools the Commission on Highly Expensive Education went on to approve the hikes anyway."

The Kabataan Party-list and its allied groups are calling for an immediate moratorium on all tuition increases, more regulative measures against tuition increases, the scrapping of exorbitant fees, and a significant increase in the budget for education.

Some of its education-related bills include the 6% GDP for Education Bill (HB 1962), the Tuition and Other Fees Regulation Bill (HB 4286), and the 3-Year Tuition Moratorium Bill (HB 3708) as the initial steps towards greater education reforms.*