MARCH 31, 2013

NR # 3059B

Bill to stop schools from compelling students to take review classes as prerequisite for graduation
Lawmakers will again try to push the passage of a bill penalizing schools that compel students to take reviews classes as a prerequisite for graduation. While it is imperative to ensure that students pass their board exams, an exclusive partnership between a school and a review center is unnecessary and often results in a collusion to charge higher, unjustifiable fees to students and their parents, said Rep. Teddy Casio (Party-list, Bayan Muna). Casios House Bill 3546 was approved on Third Reading by the House in December of 2010 with a counterpart measure that is still pending in the Senate. Casio said any school that compels its students to take board review classes or study in a particular review center will be penalized and its permit to operate revoked. The bill prohibits schools from compelling students to take review classes, which are not part of the curriculum, in a review center of the higher education institutions choice and making it a prerequisite for graduation or for completion of a course. In the first place, review courses are supposed to be optional and do not form part of the curriculum, Casio said. Forcing students to enroll in a review center of the schools choice and to pay the corresponding fees that include transportation, board and lodging, is unlawful, said Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara (Lone District, Aurora), Chairman of the House Committee on Higher Education. Angara, co-author of the bill, said that withholding the transcript of scholastic records, diploma, certification or any essential document of the student to be used in support of the application for the professional licensure examinations so as to compel the students to go to a review center of the HEIs choice is a violation of the students right to choose their review centers. Under the bill, violators face six months to six years imprisonment and a fine of P750,000. Likewise, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) may impose disciplinary sanctions against the official or employee violating the proposed act pursuant to Section 13 of Republic Act 7722, otherwise known as the Higher Education Modernization Act of 1994. Co-authors of the bill are Reps. Neri Colmenares (Party-list, Bayan Muna), Raymond Palatino (Party-list, Kabataan), Antonio Tinio (Party-list, Act Teachers), Rafael Mariano (Party-list, Anakpawis), Luzviminda Ilagan and Emmi De Jesus (Party-list, Gabriela) and Pryde Henry Teves (3rd District, Negros Oriental). (30) jc