Students from different schools in Metro Manila trooped to the office of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) in Quezon City calling for the agency to act on the collection of redundant and ‘illegal’ fees by some Higher Education institutions and various cases of students’ democratic rights violated by school administrations.
United through the Rise for Education Alliance, progressive student groups filed a counter-affidavit to the statement of school administrators in response to the students’ earlier complaints on August this year regarding collection of dubious fees such as ‘development fee.’
Aside from issues of illegal fees collected by schools, the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) also called for CHEd to act swiftly on cases of campus press freedom repression and violation of students’ democratic rights.
Marc Lino Abila, National Chairperson of CEGP said that cases of students’ rights violation is a direct effect of the ‘worsening’ commercialization of education in the country. And in opposition of such situation, Abila said that the school administrations are resorting to violent measures to repress the students’ demands.
The Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology (EARIST) administration has been reported by CEGP to CHEd for threatening to shut the students’ publication. EARIST Technozette caught the ire of the administration when it published articles regarding the collection of ‘development fee’ to which students oppose. In De La Salle Araneta University (DLSAU) a student was charged of Cybercrime by the school’s admin for posting photos on Facebook against its supposed collection of excessive fees. The National University was also reported to CHEd for revoking the scholarship of two students when they actively participated in the campaign against a proposed tuition hike.
Abila lambasted the CHEd for its snail-paced proceedings regarding the complaints sent to them. “Of the cases filed by CEGP to CHEd, it has took them months just to receive the respondent’s statement, and surely it will again take months for the resolution of the cases.”
