Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A lv I N T e N e d e r o
Number of schools set to increase tuition this year: Number of new classrooms: Number of classrooms needed: Average cost of tuition in the country in the 1990s: Average cost of tuition in the country in 2011: Number of youth who could not afford to go to school: Percentage of national budget allotted for education under Arroyo: Percentage of national budget allotted for education under Aquino:
11 78 31 35 31 1 187
Problems in collecting publication fund (including non-mandatory collection) Withholding of funds/ delayed release of funds Adviser intervention
Censorship
Harassment of staffers
Suspension/Expulsion
TOTAL
It doesnt take a genius to see that addressing the perennial crisis in education would entail higher allocation for basic services. Aquinos administration, however, tried to justify the budget cuts and tuition increases. It even crafted the K-12 program, which, according to Aquino, would improve the quality of education by lengthening the period of time spent in school. What he does not understand or refuses to understand is that the length of time is not the sole determinant of quality education. In fact, other countries which scored higher in aptitude tests have shorter education cycles than that in the Philippines. The truth is that the objective of K-12 is to produce cheap manpower ready for export. The thrust of Philippine education remains the same: production of semiskilled labor to cater to the global market. Given these conditions, student publications have more than enough reason to be antagonistic. Now more than ever, publications needed to take a firm, critical stand in the advancement of student interests amid these assaults to the right to education. Above all, this is the time to arm the students with the knowledge that the crisis in education is inextricably bound to the crisis of the society as a whole. To genuinely change the nature of the education system, it is necessary to change the status quo in which majority of the farmers remain landless and workers receive little benefits and unjustly low wages. For along with these changes comes the initiative to put the premium on social services such as education.
STOP CAMPUS PRESS FREEDOM VIOLATIONS! FIGHT FOR EDUCATION! ROLLBACK THE TUITION! FIGHT FOR A NATIONALIST, SCIENTIFIC AND MASS-ORIENTED EDUCATION!
The College Editors Guild of the Philippines Contact:
Gidget estella National Media officer 09153352021 edz dela Cruz Secretary General 09065581257