By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Hundreds of students at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa walked out of their classes today to denounce a proposal to increase the school’s tuition by as much as 2,000 percent.
The students, nearly a thousand of them, threw armchairs, tables and papers down to the ground floor and set these on fire. Many of them hanged streamers from the state university’s main building denouncing the proposal.
In a statement, PUP student regent Donna Pascual said the proposal means an increase from P12 to P200 per unit of tuition. “(The tuition increase) is expected to affect all incoming freshmen in the university,” she said, estimating the affected students at about 50,000.
PUP is a state university where most of its students come from the poor. “PUP is supposed to be the most accessible university with its P12 tuition fee. What would happen now to our poor students and high school graduates? They have nowhere to go to,” said Chaser Soriano, student council president.
Vencer Crisostomo of Kabataan Partylist, who was present in the protest action inside PUP, told Bulatlat that the students were asked to bring dilapidated armchairs outside in a symbolic protest to represent the conditions that the students in PUP go through. But Crisostomo said they were surprised when students started throwing out their chairs, tables and even their examination papers from several floors of the school building. “They were agitated,” he said.
The students demanded to have a dialogue with the PUP Board of Regent but only an official from the Student Affairs Office came out to talk to them. The students then burned some of the armchairs on the ground.
The PUP Board of Regents is set to meet on March 29, where the tuition hike proposal is expected to be passed. But Crisostomo said that PUP has already published on its website an announcement that there would be an increase in the coming school year. “Clearly, there is no consulatation with students,” Crisostomo said.
In an interview on television, PUP president Dante Guevarra said the increase would benefit the students as it would be used to improve the facilities of the university. But Crisostomo said “it is the budget for PUP that should be increased, not tuition.”
Pascual, the PUP student regent, said tuition increase in state colleges and universities is a result of the budget cuts that the Department of Education has been experiencing. In the 2010 national budget, PUP’s was reduced by P43 million. “Now they are being forced to source funds elsewhere at the expense of the students,” Pascual said.
In President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s visit to San Jose de Buan today, she said that education is one of her priorities “because she believes that education is the key to a better life.” But Crisostomo said in a phone interview that this is “a big lie.”
“Arroyo’s administration cannot wait to waive its responsibilities especially in tertiary education,” Crisostomo said. Despite being mandated by the Constitution to have the highest share in the national budget, the allocation for education had decreased in the nearly 10 years that Arroyo was president.
According to the National Union of Students of the Philippines and Kabataan Partylist, 61 other schools in Luzon and Visayas will increase tuition by up to 20 percent by next semester. (Bulatlat.com)
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March 20th, 2010 at 10:09 am
[...] Bulatlat reports: The students, nearly a thousand of them, threw armchairs, tables and papers down to the ground floor and set these on fire. Many of them hanged streamers from the state university’s main building denouncing the proposal. [...]
March 23rd, 2010 at 3:02 am
That's okay to show your disgust regarding the tuition fee hike…but then, you should stop destroying properties that will cost too much money also. Just remember, you're the scholars of Bayan… we send you to school through our taxes.
March 24th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
omg!
this is heartbreaking. what happened to my alma mater? hmm this only proves that the administration has other plans aside from giving enough funds for state u"s . all they ever wanted is to get rich. aww!!!
March 25th, 2010 at 4:22 am
i am planning of a re admission for this coming year… i wonder if i still pursue my studies since this heartbreaking thing….
March 25th, 2010 at 5:29 am
@ ocigena, too much money ba? bakit di ka magpunta sa politeknikong unibersidad ng pilipinas kung may halaga pa yung mga yun?
for you infornation lang ha. ang pagsunog na iyon ng mga sira at di na magagamit na mga kagamitan ay sumisimbolo lang sa bulok at walang improvements na pasilidad sa aming sintang paaaralan.
di naman tanga ang mga iskolar ng bayan para siraan at sunugin ang mga bagay na kapaki-pakinabang pa.
at lumalaban kami, hindi lang para sa amin, kundi para sa lahat ng iskolar ng bayan, at gustong maging iskolar ng bayan sa mga susunod pang taon.
March 25th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
[...] March 19, thousands of students from PUP walked out from their classes to denounce the proposal to increase their tuition. Students threw armchairs, [...]
March 25th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
yeah..they were given the right to protest..but like what anthony taberna had said..freedom comes with responsibility..we are students for pete's sake..we are studying in our school for us to have good etiquette..modo kung baga…at kahit sira man yun o hindi..walang karapatan ang mga estudyante para sumira ng mga bagay na hindi sa kanila…sa tingin nyo ba ang pagbato ng pintura sa kapwa tao eh..makakaresolba ng problema nyo..??violence is not the answer..
April 7th, 2010 at 7:50 am
we have the right to express our disgust on tuition fee increase….but we have no right to use force to express it….FOR THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ABSOLUTE FREEDOM…
August 9th, 2010 at 11:33 am
As a full blooded PUPian… I can say that this will greatly affect those who are from poor family, yet intelligent learners who want to be a real “iskolar ng bayan”, but on the other hand, the administration of our academe will not be forced to do this if the allocation of the budget of our government is properly disseminated to it’s recepient, state universities in particular….
Let’s not also forget that we have our responsibility in our alma mater . If we don’t want to be tagged as aliens when it comes to technology aided education, we on ourselves must make an immediate action for us to uplift our education’s status quo….
September 9th, 2010 at 7:01 am
still, do you guys agree in a TFI like that? i'm not in any activist org, but still, i understand why those activist went to berserk like that. yes, there is no such thing as ABSOLUTE FREEDOM Belista, but freedom of speech, of expression….article 3 sec 4 phil. cons. is practiced!and musn't be suppressed !!
October 24th, 2010 at 9:23 am
[...] Even until today, activism is still alive in the campus in a number of ways, even going as extreme as throwing desks and chairs and setting them on fire in protest against increase in tuition. [...]