Rising cost of tuition and other miscellaneous fees are the major reasons cited for the planned transfer of private school students to public schools this year, according to a survey conducted by the Department of Education (DepEd) in Negros Occidental.
The survey showed that 70 to 75 percent of parents of students in private schools may not be able to afford sending their children to private institutions due to the 10 to 15 percent increase in tuition imposed by schools annually.
With about 80,000 students enrolled in about 55 private schools in the province this year, this would mean 60,000 transferees to the public school system in the coming school year on top of the thousands who already transferred in 2005.
Dr. Isabelita Perigua, in-charge of private schools in Dep-ed Bacolod, said that enrollment in private institutions dropped by as much as 40 percent or 32,000 students for school year 2005-2006. Of these, 35 percent or 28,000 transferred to public schools while the rest were considered dropouts.
Perigua, at the same time, said that public schools have also their own share of dropouts at 45 percent, a strong indication that a significant number of families belonging to the poorest segment of society can no longer afford education for their children.
"We have to face it, life is getting harder and even with free education, some parents cannot simply afford to send their children to school anymore," Perigua added.
Negros Occidental Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson, chairperson of the House committee on basic education, acknowledged such reality and has anticipated a "crisis in education months from now."
"With the present economic situation, parents simply opt to transfer their children to public schools," Lacson added.
But still, with the continued transfer of students from private to public schools, Dep-Ed is faced with the problem of hiring additional teachers.
"Since we cannot reject students, we will need to hire an additional 110 teachers for the elementary level and about 50 more for high schools annually," Perigua said.