COCOPEA says: ‘No permit, no exam bill could force private schools to close’ 

The Coordinating Council of Private Education Associations (Cocopea) has reiterated its stand against the “No permit, no exam” bill being pushed in Congress, saying that its passage could close many private schools in the country.

The Senate has passed Senate Bill 1359 or the proposed “No Permit, No Exam Prohibition Act” which disallows private and public schools from barring students from taking examinations due to unpaid tuition fees. 

The bill, which prohibits the “no-permit, no-exam” policy in tertiary educational institutions, was passed on third and final reading with a vote of 22-0-0.

The “no permit, no exam” policy is a policy implemented by some schools in the Philippines that bars students from taking exams if they have unpaid tuition fees. 

COCOPEA, which is composed of private schools from basic and tertiary education, said that the two Chambers should defer its bicameral committee deliberations and heed the concerns of the private sector first.

COCOPEA has reiterated its stand against the bill, saying that its passage could force many private schools, which are still recovering from the devastating impact of Covid pandemic, to stop operating.

The following is an excerpt o from the statement of COCOPEA:

“We, the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA), the unifying voice of the private education sector in the Philippines, composed of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU), Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), Association of Christian Schools, Colleges and Universities (ACSCU), the Unified Technical and Vocational Education and Training of the Philippines Inc. (UniTVET Inc.), and the Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges, and Universities (PAPSCU), here representing the largest group of private schools, colleges, universities and institutions in the country, STRONGLY OPPOSE Senate Bill 1359 and House Bill 7584. 

These bills will impose prohibitive provisions that will seriously affect the timely collection of tuition and other financial obligations direly needed to support the thousands of teachers and personnel as well as other school dependent stakeholders of private educational institutions still struggling to recover from the long school closures caused by the pandemic. 

We urge lawmakers to defer the bicameral committee deliberations and hear the private educational sector’s voice.”