Cayetano asssures PSU students of more reforms
“THE number one concern of the country’s youth is that education is becoming too expensive.”
Senator Alan Cayetano noted this problem in his recent dialogue with the student leaders of the Pangasinan State University in Rosales.
“This factors in everything – from tuition fees to transportation costs to go to school… I have personally confirmed this through my Listening Tours. This concern resonates among students from the Cordillera Region to Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao,” Cayetano said as he expressed condolences to the family of Kristel Tejada, a 16-year-old Behavioral Science student from UP Manila who committed suicide, allegedly due to her inability to pay for her education.
To address the problem, the senator explained to the PSU students the need to introduce more student assistance schemes even as he assured them that he, along with his fellow lawmakers, will continue to push for reform and work hand-in-hand with the government to make their promise of a truly accessible education system a reality.
Cayetano has also proposed that the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) make it easier for their scholars to access their stipend and loans by partnering with banks.
“Instead of students missing a day of study just to get their money, they can instead just withdraw what they need from the partner banks,” he said.
“Even if Kristel’s case might be an isolated one, we cannot ignore the reality that so many students’ lives are affected because of high tuition fees, school policies, and insufficient support from government,” he said as he revealed how half of high school students drop out, and of those who graduate, only 23 percent enroll in college.
“Of this number, only 15 percent graduate from college,” he added
Cayetano further pointed to the lack of quality education given the shortages in facilities saying, “We are still lagging behind our Asian neighbors when it comes to education because our public schools lack the facilities needed to produce quality education.”
These concerns, he continued, are rounded up by the lack of employment opportunities that students face after they graduate.
Cayetano also proposed an Education for Employment program to increase jobs in the country, a program that seeks to aid students gain employment after they graduate through a partnership between schools and private companies.
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