No Permit No Exam Prohibition Act will be 'destructive' for private schools, administrators say
A view of the Ateneo de Manila Senior High School in Manila. A proposed law in the Philippines to allow students to take examinations without paying tuition fees is facing opposition from schools including those run by the Church saying it violates academic freedom. (Photo: Facebook)
A proposed law in the Philippines to allow students to take examinations without paying tuition fees has garnered support from students, while schools including those run by the Church oppose it saying it violates academic freedom.
Student groups with backing from youth organizations held two rallies in capital Manila on Aug. 22, drawing about 321 participants who supported the proposed No Permit No Exam Prohibition Act.
The rallies drew support from the left-wing youth political organization, Kabataan, and the League of Filipino Students, and the student leaders of the state-run University of the Philippines.
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Once passed in parliament, Senate Bill No. 1359 will ban the policy of disallowing students from sitting for exams with outstanding payments in private schools.
The bill was approved by the Senate, the upper house of the bicameral parliament, in the third reading on Aug. 19. It will require a majority vote in the House of Representatives, the lower house, to become a law.
Supporters see the bill as a pro-poor measure in a country where one-fifth of the population lives in poverty while private schools continue to increase tuition fees.
The bill has faced strong opposition from private school administrators who labeled it “destructive” to the operations of their schools.
The law will be damaging to the “complementarity” of public and private education and an obstacle to quality education in the country, the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations of the Philippines (COCOPEA) said in a statement, Daily Inquirer reported on Aug. 19.
“It will cause systemic damage to the private education sector, violate the complementarity of the public and private education sectors, and lead to less accessible quality education in the country,” it stated.
The council asked the lawmakers to reconsider the bill, citing separate statements from its member associations.
In a joint statement on Aug. 22, the National Alliance of Private Schools, Inc. and the Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges, and Universities, also criticized the bill.
“This pending legislation poses a threat to the operations of private educational institutions, especially the small and medium-sized ones,” the statement read.
“The bill… disrupts fee collection, which jeopardizes operational sustainability, timely payment of salaries and wages of school personnel,” the groups stated.
A lawyer said Congress should “carefully” study the bill as they could be infringing on the schools’ academic freedom- a right guaranteed by the constitution.
“A no permit, no exam policy is a right of the school. It is part of managerial discretion beyond the question of any legislation… it is included in the question- who may be admitted to study,” lawyer Net Pinon told UCA News.
Pinon said that academic freedom, a concept construed in favor of the academic institution, was the basis to claim that those who were not deficient in complying with school regulations such as paying tuition, may only be admitted to study.
“A student who does not pay his tuition on time is violating the school’s rules and regulations. It is like cheating or any infraction in which case the school has the right not to admit the same for enrollment or not,” Pinon added.
Kabataan executive director Ronald Pelonia said the bill has a “sufficient” mechanism to protect academic freedom.
“The parents will execute a promissory note which the school may use against those who will not pay their fees. Also, there is a timetable, that is, one year for every student to pay his tuition. This is clearly a ‘study now, pay later program’… and there is nothing illegal about it,” Pelonia told UCA News.
He cited several government programs in the past consistent with the “study now, pay later” scheme.
“Everyone supported such a program before. This is like a loan wherein those who don’t have cash could continue taking their exam rather than postponing or delaying their studies,” he added.
Catherine Diwa, a student from the Dominican-run University of Santo Tomas said the bill can put a stop to private schools that kept on raising their tuition and school fees.
“Sad to say but students have been ‘milking cows’ of some private schools that justified their exorbitant fees because of the high demand of enrollees lining up at their doorsteps,” Diwa told UCA News.
“This puts an end to that because now everything is not just about money but students’ rights,” she added.
Diwa said one year would not “really make a difference” in the operation of private schools since they have been operating on profit.
“They don’t live in hand-to-mouth existence. Their students do. The parents of their students do,” she added.
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