Our education system kills - NUSP Baguio-Benguet

BITOON A RANAO
March 18, 2018

MANILA: A group of students in Baguio-Benguet condemned the death of another student who has committed suicide due to unpaid school fees.

The Baguio-Benguet chapter of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) expressed its condemnation over the death of Ronnel Sergio, an 18-year-old senior high school student from Cagayan Valley.

In a social media posting, the student union quoted Bombo Radyo report as saying Sergio was shamed by his teacher as he would not be able to graduate for not having settled his unpaid fees. He was later found hanging dead in their kitchen last March 14, 2018 (Wednesday).

“This month, we commemorate the 5th year of the death of Kristel Tejada, a University of the Philippines (UP) Manila student who committed suicide also due to unpaid school fees. Tejada was a victim of the UP’s socialized tuition scam in 2013,” NUSP Baguo-Benguet spokesperson, Paul Soriano said.

Following Kristel, cases of students who have committed suicide for the same reason continued for the following years, he said.

“Rosanna Sanfuego of Cagayan State University, Jessiven Lagatic of Central Bicol State University of Agriculture, Rodolfo Urmanita of Cagayan State University and now Ronnel Sergia are all victims of the rotten system of education in the country that treats education as a profiteering venture, oriented in money-making and producing graduates to be sold as a cheap labor force for big foreign businesses”, Soriano added.

Soriano argued, “With this in context, we are very much aware that Sergio's case is not a mere “bullying” tragedy. It is, at the very core, a clear manifestation of the worse state of our neoliberal education system - a clear case of the abandonment of the state to ensure free and quality education to all!”

As of the social media posting, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has not yet released the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Free Education Law. State universities and colleges (SUCs) continue to collect and increase other school fees for the past semesters. Moreover, around 400 private higher educational institutions (PHEIs) in the country is yet to increase their TOSF for the next academic year.

In Baguio City alone, biggest universities such as Saint Louis University, University of Baguio and University of the Cordillera are set to increase TOSF for incoming first-year students and SHS.

“Especially during these times that the US-Duterte regime is frustrated in killing the Filipino people with his anti-people wars and policies, the youth can never be safer. It is in our resistance against the proliferation of the neoliberal program of Duterte that we shall keep ourselves secure. As we see, this systemic crises that continuously burden the poor are not just manifested in education," Soriano pointed out.

"The jeepney phaseout, contractualization, bogus tax reform are all part of the grand modus of the Duterte administration’s policy to kill - either by gun or by paper," he said.

“We send our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Ronnel Sergio. We shall seek justice as we advance our struggle for free and quality education at a greater height!” Soriano said. - With story from NUSP Baguio-Benguet/RSP