Groups want tuition hike moratorium

MANILA, Philippines - Members of  various youth groups rallied on Thursday in front of the gates of Commission on Higher Education (CHED) building in Quezon City, calling on the agency to stop the tuition and  other fees increases this school year.

Protesters from the League of Filipino Students, National Union of Students of the Philippines, Kabataan Partylist, and Anakbayan held placards scoring both CHED and the Aquino administration's inaction in stopping the continuous tuition hikes.

They claimed that it is outright irresponsible of CHED to have not acted upon impending tuition complaints.

Even without CHED approval, various schools have imposed new tuition rates, the protesters added.

"The president could have all the power to issue a ruling to prevent the hikes. However, he still chose to play deaf and abandoned our urgent call to impose an order to freeze tuition fee increase," LFS national spokesperson Charlotte Velasco said. 

The groups said that the continuous rise of school fees will contribute to the increase in the number of dropouts , out of school youth, child labor, and "prosti-tuition."

The groups cited the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization - Institute of Statistics 2013 report which placed the Philippines in the 5th place of countries with the most number of dropouts in the world.

Other countries included in the list are  Nigeria, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and India.