The Manila Times

Educator hits Senate bill vs ‘no permit, no exam’ policy

ARIC JOHN SY CUA

AN official of an association of private schools believes a Senate bill that penalizes private institutions for enforcing a “no permit, no exam” policy infringes on a school’s academic rights.

“We have been very lenient over the years, but what we don’t like about the bill is that it takes away our academic freedom, our ability to manage our schools and manage our

relationships with our students,” Dr. Antonio del Carmen, a board member of the Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges, and Universities (Papscu), the Unified Technical Vocational Education and Training of the Philippines Inc. (Unitvet) and Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations of the Philippines (Cocopea), said in a recorded video interview with The Manila Times.

Senate Bill 1359, or the ‘No Permit, No Exam’ Prohibition Act, was approved on third and final reading last March 20.

Del Carmen said private institutions “also have that leeway or access to be able to manage and control our students.”

Private educational institutions have over the years allowed students to issue promissory notes so they can take an exam, even if they have unpaid balances and tuition fees, he said.

“Some schools allow the promissory notes to slide from one term to two terms, but we also need the cash flow so that we can operate our schools properly,” he said.

“But if we allow students to take exams without any of these restrictions, it will be difficult because students will have that mindset that they can just go in and enroll and not mind the obligations,” del Carmen said.

The association official said students signed a contract when they enrolled to pay on installment their tuition fees.

“If that contract is voided, then students will just be free to just let those obligations pass, not minding the risk of them not being able to complete the term or course that they enrolled in,” he said.

Del Carmen, who is president and chief executive officer of STI College in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, said schools have to live with “bad debts” incurred by students “who, for some reason or another, were not able to live up to their commitments, even the promissory notes that they have signed, a lot of these were not met.”

Some students stopped schooling because they cannot meet their financial obligations, while others transferred to public schools so that they can continue their courses there, he said.

“But that will put in danger the complementary [nature] of public and private institutions in making education accessible for as many students as possible,” del Carmen said.

“We have devised this installment plan to allow more access to students, and if the Senate will remove that ability to remove that ability of us to provide those installment plans, then in effect, they are limiting the access of students to go to private education, and that will overburden the public system, which, at this point, is already overcrowded,” he added.

Schools will face a problem “in terms of graduating quality students and providing sufficient facilities for all of these students,” he said.

The educator said they are open to accepting students, even those with financial challenges, but they are not closing their doors on them, since parents will work hard to get their children through college.

The measure declares it is “the policy of the State to promote the right of all citizens to quality education and to ensure access to educational services regardless of personal or socioeconomic circumstances.”

“Towards this end, it is hereby declared unlawful for any educational institution, public or private, to prevent any student from taking examinations or any form of educational assessment for reasons of financial or property obligations, including unpaid tuition and other school fees,” SB 1359 noted.

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2023-04-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-04-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://manilatimes.pressreader.com/article/281513640416444

The Manila Times