By: Reigh John Bench Almendras
Photo from: DepdEd: Private Schools in the Philippines Can Continue Blended Learning Option For SY 2022-2023
The House of Representatives (HOR), in its final reading with 200 lawmakers in the affirmative, zero in the negative, and three abstentions, approved House Bill (HB) No. 11214 known as the Private Basic Education Vouchers Assistance Act which seeks to expand financial and training assistance to private school teachers and students.
HB 11214 aims to recalibrate sections of Republic Act (RA) 8545 known as the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Act (GASTPE) and provide more avenues for faculty and students of private schools to achieve quality education in the country.
In its press release in affirmation of the bill, the Senate explains the intention of the initiative, stating “The bill supports teachers by providing in-service training funds, scholarships for advanced studies, and financial support for institutional enhancements in accredited private basic education schools.”
If approved into law, HB 11214 will be implemented to select qualified schools and will be under the Department of Education (DepEd) which shall establish the Bureau of Private Education (BPE).
BPE, as a new office under DepEd, will oversee the implementation of the voucher program and ensure that all participating private schools comply with quality and efficiency standards to be set upon the approval of the bill.
The approval of the bill will also lead to permission for accredited schools under DepEd to increase their tuition fees provided that 70% of such increase will be allotted to the payment of “salaries, wages, allowances, and other statutory benefits of teaching and non-teaching personnel, except administrators who are principal stockholders of the school,”
“At least 20 percent of the tuition increases shall go to the improvement or modernization of buildings, equipment, libraries, laboratories, gymnasia, and similar facilities and to the payment of other costs of operation,” the bill read.
Groups representing teachers and staff of educational institutions contested the bill, arguing that its approval into law might result in an increase in tuition fees without restraint.
The Council of Teachers, Staff of Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (Cotescup) shared that the previous version of the bill repeals Section 5(2) of RA 6728, which dictates that 70% of the subsidized amount for tuition fee or its increases shall go to the payment of salaries, wages, allowances and other benefits of teachers and staffs of private schools.
Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo, in addressing groups’ concerns, noted that the bill reflected the terms of the current law—that 70 percent of a tuition hike would go to the salaries and benefits of teachers and staff.