Church-run schools urged to grant scholarships, call off tuition increase

MANILA, Philippines - A senior member of the House of Representatives is urging priests in charge of running Catholic schools across the country to offer scholarships to poor yet deserving bright students, to help lessen the burden of parents on high tuition nowadays.

“They (Church-run schools) should also give scholarships to many bright and talented students,” suggested Isabela Rep. Rodolfo “Rodito” Albano III, who at the same time called on priests to “reduce tuition and other school fees.”

Instead of increasing tuition fees, he said Catholic schools should also consider reducing its huge tuition and other fees and produce more scholars to show great sense of moral responsibility in the midst of worldwide financial crisis.

Albano said he could not understand why Church-run schools would hike tuition when the Constitution grants tax exemption to their businesses, particularly to education.

He also called on the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines which has 1,194 Catholic member-schools nationwide, to heed the strong public clamor to lessen the burden of parents battling the global financial downturn.

“The association of big Catholic schools should show an example that they are also considering the financial shortcomings of parents nowadays. They must help relieve parents and students who are faced with high cost of goods and services,” said Albano.

But Bayan Muna Reps. Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño filed House Bill 2440, or an “Act Enforcing a Three-year Moratorium on Tuition and Other Fee Increases on All Educational Institutions.”

Speaker Prospero Nograles also wants schools to freeze any tuition increases, saying “looming threats of heightened retrenchment of Filipino workers here and abroad” dictates that the country’s private and state-owned schools, universities and colleges call it off.

“This is the worst time to increase tuition fees. A lot of people are now losing their jobs and can hardly send their children to school so I strongly suggest that school owners and administrators should call off any plan to increase fees as part of their contribution in the effort to mitigate the effects of the global financial crisis,” Nograles said.