The educational system under the Arroyo regime:
Arroyo's showcase projects

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

The regime boasts of two of its programs in education. These showcase programs were launched in the closing months of Arroyo's term with the sordid aim of garnering the votes of the students and their parents. The "Iskolar sa Bawat Mahirap na Pamilya" (A Scholar in Every Poor Family) program was launched just this April. The "Student Assistance Fund for Education for a Strong Republic (SAFE 4 SR)," meanwhile, was launched only in early 2004. These two programs were designed for college students of voting age, especially SAFE 4 SR which is geared towards college students in their junior and senior years.

The "Iskolar sa Bawat Mahirap na Pamilya," would supposedly grant two-year scholarships to five million students in any public college or university, or for a two-year technical or vocational course. SAFE 4 SR, meanwhile, is a "study now-pay later" plan which would lend funds to students in their junior or senior year to pay for their education and enable them to finish their course.

Arroyo's programs favor capitalist owners of private schools, because they ensure that student beneficiaries would still be able to pay their tuition fees despite higher costs. But aside from the few students who stand to benefit from these programs, there are thousands more who would be forced to stop schooling because of the burden of rising fees.

The big question is where Arroyo intends to source the billions of pesos needed to defray the costs of these ambitious programs, considering the government's enormous budget deficit. Many believe that this is all a grand deception designed not merely to secure the student vote but to douse cold water on the students' seething anger over the Arroyo government's grave neglect of their welfare. The programs are actually pointless because first and foremost, education should be free for all students.

07 July 2004
English Edition

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