‘No permit, no exam policy a violation of right to education’

MANILA, Philippines - The “no permit, no exam policy” goes against the right to education, Sen. Manny Villar Jr. said yesterday.

Villar lamented that had his proposal, Senate Bill 2992 or the “Anti- No Permit, No Exam Act” been passed and made into a law, it could have restrained the University of the Philippines from preventing Kristel Tejada from continuing her studies due to lack of funds.

Villar said he filed SB 2992 on Oct. 11, 2011 but it was not approved during the current Congress.

“We have said it before, the ‘No Permit, No Exam’ policy of some schools is not just. It is a constraint on our children’s right to education,” Villar said.

The Senate bill’s counterpart measure passed third reading in the House of Representatives on Aug. 3, 2011.

His son, Las Piñas Rep. Mark Villar, is among its authors.

The proposal seeks to allow students with dues, unpaid tuition and other school fees to take the midterm or final examination. Students should not be required to secure from school authorities a permit before being allowed to take the midterm or final examination.

The proposal also prevents schools from requiring the payment, upon enrollment, of a down payment or first installment of more than 30 percent of the total amount of the tuition and other school fees for the entire semester or duration of the course.

Villar said he would ask his wife Cynthia to pursue the passage of the measure if she wins her senatorial bid this May.

Sen. Francis Escudero said he would seek an inquiry into the UP system to find out if the state-owned university has been serving its mandated purpose of providing accessible education to deserving students.

“Equal access to education is one of my advocacies. And being a product of the UP myself, I sympathize with those who are unable to afford college tuition even with subsidies provided by the state university,” Escudero said.

Sen. Loren Legarda called on state universities and colleges to review their respective policies on providing opportunities to students who want to study, but are unable to do so due to lack of financial support.

Tejada, a behavioral science major, was forced to take a leave of absence because she could not pay her tuition balance of P10,000 this semester.

She had asked for a loan or installment payment and offered a promissory note. Tejada was forced to file a forced leave of absence (LOA) after UP Manila disallowed her from attending her classes.

Then on early Friday, Tejada took her own life by drinking silver cleaner at their home in Tondo, Manila. UP president Alfredo Pascual explained his plan to revise the state university’s tuition and financial assistance scheme.

He said there is a need to revise the plan due to problems like the long application process.

Pascual said apart from the centralized process of classifying the students under the scheme, there are delays in decisions on the bracketing scheme to determine the financial capability of each scholar. 

He also cited the mismatch between the indicators and the actual financial needs of the students. 

Pascual stressed the need to increase the allowance for those classified under the lowest bracket. 

Among the proposed changes is the integration of the income information in the application to take the UP College Admission Test.

He said there is also a proposal to do home visits to verify the financial standing by random sampling, warning of a penalty for misdeclaration.  â€“ With Reinir Padua, Marvin Sy