LINGAYEN- The Department of Education (DepEd) officials in the  province admitted that school principals received monies collected from parents ostensibly to cover costs of test papers but denied having done the collection themselves, and therefore, cannot be held liable for the collection.

This situation as described by the DepEd officials before the sangguniang panlalawigan absolved the latter from any administrative liability, at least in the eyes of the provincial legislators, even after the officials admitted nobody is being made to account for the monies collected. 

Lawyer Armando Aquino, schools division superintendent of Pangasinan 2 and Dr. Ruby Alma Torio, acting superintendent of Pangasinan division 1, vehemently denied collecting test papers’   fees from pupils and students in public elementary and high schools province-wide, saying the collections are made by Parents-Teachers Community Associations (PTCAs) in every school and pointed to PTCA treasurers as the ones collecting the money.

The two and a group of school principals and officials attended last Sept. 1 for the Question Hour of the provincial board to respond to complaints among parents who claim education in public schools are not after all free because of the additional fees to cover the costs of test papers.

Aquino, assigned spokesman of all the schools division superintendents in Pangasinan, including those in the cities of San Carlos, Urdaneta and Alaminos, claimed that the practice of collecting fees to cover test papers for diagnostic, progress and achievement tests among public school children have been going on 35 years already.

He said these collections which he claimed are voluntary are turned over to the principals who arrange for the printing of the test papers in local printing presses based on collections received. He admitted that both the PCTA and the principals, however, were never asked to account for the monies they received.

Those who could not pay are advised to give their produce like fruits and vegetables, admits Dr. Maria Sebolboro, district supervisor of Villasis town.

Each grade one and two pupil is charged P5.50, grades three and four P7.50 while grades 5 and 6 pay P10 each every conduct of test. High school students pay each P10, too.

Last year, Aquino said the provincial government was generous enough to give  P1 million to them in kind  for the conduct of the tests, but this is not  enough as they will be needing P10 million so that collections will be  stopped.

Second district Board Member Von Mark Mendoza who initiated the probe, said the move was “not to do a witch hunt” but to seek clarification on the issues raised by the parents. But while he maintained that collections should not be made because PTCAs are being made as conduit of DepEd to skirt the legality of the issue of free education in public schools, it was not clear whether a policy was adopted to enforce this.

Pangasinan division 1 alone has 258,000 school children while Pangasinan division 2 has about 205,000.

But the education officials later received a pledge from the provincial board to provide more funds from the Provincial School Board Fund. – EVA

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