Privatization of Public School

A group of College students outside the campus ground, holding streamers and megaphone shouting, “Makibaka!  ‘Wag matakot!”, “No to Tuition Fee Hike!”. 

They would like to get their message across.  Some students would pause and watch them for a minute or two to check what is happening and then go on with their usual way.  Other students seem oblivious to what is happening in their surroundings.     This is quite an ordinary scene in any State University here in the Philippines. 

I studied in a public school all throughout my elementary and high school year.  I only got to study in a private institution for one semester and then I transferred back to a State University.  I was not fortunate enough to afford the education given by a private institution. Was I unfortunate? 

 Thinking about it, I can now say that I was fortunate to be given the chance to study and be considered as one of the “Eskolar (s) ng Bayan.” Our school may not have the best of facilities back then but the support and encouragement from my teachers and their love for their job compensated for the things they lack. 

“Education is a basic human right. The State is duty-bound to provide it as a public good.”   When I was still in College, I remember my tuition fee was only about PhP 500.00 – per semester! I strived hard to get into the Dean’s List so I could still get a discount.  I settled in paying Php250.00 per semester.  That is a lot of savings!

That is just one advantage of having to study in a public institution.  Education will not cost that much. 

However, things have changed.  Privatization of the Public basic and higher education made a great impact when it comes to free public education.   As I looked for information about Privatization, I remembered my former schoolmate in University of Makati, my former classmate when I first had my Certificate in Teaching on the same school, Mr. Raymond Maglanoc.  He used to be the President of our Student Supreme Council.  He was a man of principles; however, I was not given the chance to get to know him more that time.  He now works in one of the schools in Mindanao.  Thanks to social networking I was able to get in touch with him again.  I wanted to know his views on Privatization and I was glad he spared some time giving me information about it.

 On his message to me he wrote, “Historically, privatization of public services including public schools took grounds during the Ramos Administration thru the Philippines 2000 (Educ2000 in public education aspect) that was prescribed by the IMF-WB. The major thrust of the program is to gradually convert public services into private enterprise to cover huge budget deficit, implement competition and generate income. This has to be done thru laws and policies such as EPIRA law on electricity, Oil deregulation law on oil and a certain CHED memorandum circular (I forgot the series number) to deregulate tuition fees. In UP it was called STFAP or Socialized Tuition Fee Assistance Program which every year, standard of qualifications and requirements are getting tough especially for poor but deserving students.”

His words made me thinking.  I looked for more information about this and I found that the budget our government is allocating now for education is so low compared to how much other countries spend on their education budget. 

I also stumbled upon a very interesting article where he agrees to privatization of education in the Philippines.  He said that “A private school cannot force customers to purchase its products, nor can it compel anyone to finance its existence, nor can it  regulate or curtail the activities of its competitors.  Because private schools are legally forbidden to use force, their existence and programs entail no violation of rights.  Having to earn their customers and money, private schools posses strong economic incentive to provide excellent educational services.  If they want to stay in business and flourish, they must make money by satisfying the educational requirements of students and their families; if they fail to do so, they face bankruptcy.” (Source: http://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2010-winter/privatizing-government-schools.asp)

It is interesting to know that some people would agree to privatization of the education only because they do not like the idea of paying the education for “other unfortunate people” through the tax that the government is imposing to them.  They believe that if someone wants to be educated then he has to pay for it and not just depend of the subsidy from the government. 

Still a lot have to be said in this issue.  But I would still go against the privatization of our education.  If only the officials of our government will be honest and kind enough not to spend the money of the tax payers through their personal expenses the government could have helped a lot in educating the Filipino people to eventually help our country arise.

I like how much Governor Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana has said it, “Think about it: Every educated person is not rich, but almost every education person has a job and a way out of poverty. So education is a fundamental solution to poverty.”