Bill to allow students with unpaid fees to take exams

MANILA, Philippines - Senator Manuel Villar Jr. is pushing for the passage of a bill that would make it illegal for all tertiary level institutions to prevent their students from taking their examinations due to non-payment of tuition fees. 

In Senate Bill 2992, Villar noted that students of post-secondary and higher education institutions shall have the right to take the mid-term of final examinations “notwithstanding the existence of unpaid financial obligations to the school.”

“Unfortunately for students and their parents, schools can be quite exacting when it comes to tuition and this could not be any more apparent than during examinations,” Villar said.

“While we understand that tuition and other fees are necessary for schools to provide the service required of them, there will be instances when parents/students are unable to pay on time,” he added.

By filing the bill, Villar said that he is looking to prohibit all public and private higher education institutions, including the vocational schools from enforcing the so-called no permit, no exam policy.

Villar lamented that a lot of these higher education institutions (HEI) have ignored appeals by the Commission on Higher Education for them to exercise a greater degree of flexibility towards students with unsettled accounts.

This, he said, has caused a great deal of suffering and mental torment on the students and their families who have their dreams of making their way out of poverty through education.

Instead of prohibiting the students with obligations from taking their exams, the bill would provide the HEIs certain rights that would protect their own interests.

Under the bill, the HEIs would be allowed to withhold the release of the grades of the concerned students until the unpaid tuition and other school fees are paid in full, including the interest accrued.

Any individual found to have violated the provisions of the bill would be fined P20,000 to P50,000.