Editorial
Missing the real target
On August 3, 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act
No. 10931 or the “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.”
The law enunciates the policy that quality education is an inalienable right of
all Filipinos. The State’s policy is to protect and promote the rights of all students to
quality education at all levels. Therefore, the State shall take appropriate steps to
make such education accessible to all.
The law aims to give all Filipinos equal opportunity to quality tertiary education
in private and public institutions and to prioritize academically able students from
poor families.
While the law’s objective is laudable, making tertiary education free
regardless of the student’s economic status raises serious doubts about the
program’s sustainability and equitable access.
In the EDCOM II Year One Report entitled “MISEDUCATION: The Failed
System of Philippine Education”, it was observed that from 2018 to 2023, there was
a significant increase in the budget for the Free Higher Education Program from
40.02% to 55.15%, but most beneficiaries of the tertiary education subsidy were not
the poorest. This stark reality highlights the urgency of the issue of equitable
access. Between 2018 and 2022, the share of the poorest of the poor (Listahanan
2.0 and Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries) in the subsidy declined
drastically, from 74% to 31%. The Second Congressional Commission on Education
(EDCOM 2) observed that this is contrary to the prioritization prescribed by the law;
thus, it strongly recommended enhancing targeting and addressing the issue of
equitable access.
During the early years of the program’s implementation, The Bohol Tribune
already warned that by making the program available even to students coming from
wealthy and middle-class families who have a competitive edge and better chances
of qualifying in the country’s leading state universities and colleges, students coming
from low-income families will be left out.
There is no need for the government to spend on the education of the rich.
Instead, it should focus its resources on providing financial aid and other assistance
to students coming from middle-class and low-income families because they are the
ones who lack the wherewithal to finish a college degree. The best model to adopt is
the University of the Philippines Socialized Tuition System, which the University
used before the law’s implementation. It provides tuition discounts at rates based on
the assessment of the paying capacity of the household to which a student belongs.
This assessment looks at the income as well as the socio-economic characteristics
of the household.
Equal opportunity to quality tertiary education does not mean that the
government must give tuition fee dole-outs even to the rich. The current
implementation system is economically unsustainable, and widens the gap even
more between the rich and the poor. As it stands now, the rich still have better
access not just to education, but also to government’s charity. It is our collective
responsibility to advocate for a more sustainable approach that truly benefits those
in need.