ALEXIS O.

GO CEDENIO The STRAW BILL Abstract: Background The Students Rights and Welfare (STRAW) Bill is AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A NATIONAL POLICY ON STUDENTS RIGHTS AND WELFARE. It is basically a bill solely for the students rights. Authored by Akbayan Representatives Kaka Bag-ao and Walden Bello, the STRAW Bills aim is to protect the numerous infringed rights of the students and to state said rights clearly in the law. As the youth is an essential part of our society, this bill is fundamental in social development and nation building. The STRAW Bill began during the Martial Law and is still pending until today. Purpose This study seeks to achieve the following objectives: 1. To determine the STRAW Bills development and identify the relevant and important facts why this bill should be legislated into law. 2. To identify the guiding principles and how this bill could be of great help to our countrys social welfare, educational system, and nation building. 3. To show the challenges and the lacking proposals that this bill has and to suggest improvements to it with sources coming from foreign bills and laws which are similar with the STRAW Bill. Methodology The proponent employed a descriptive-analytical method in analyzing the data gathered for this study. As pointed out earlier, there has been a scarcity in resources from the literature that gave a comprehensive study on the STRAW Bill, history and development. Thus, the proponent used as primary sources the contents of the proposed

STRAW Bill itself and other similar bills from foreign countries such as the United States. To corroborate the findings from such material, the proponent used secondary sources mainly gathered from newspapers, magazines and journals. These were gathered by the proponent to provide the information needed for this study. Through these sources, a descriptive presentation of the bills development and shortcomings and how such bill could be improved. Review of Related Literature There exist no comprehensive study on the STAW Bills continuous development from the time it was initiated in the Martial Law era. Although there are some literature that discusses about the need for a better educational system and a focus on students rights and welfare, there is no exact law in the Philippines since the STRAW Bill has, as some would say, almost been forgotten. The Bill itself titled HOUSE BILL NO.2190 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A NATIONAL POLICY ON STUDENTS RIGHTS AND WELFARE gives detailed information on what the bill is about and what it proposes. The case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District in 1969 supports the STRAW bills proposal of the students right to freedom of speech. It is a landmark case wherein the students wore black armbands to protest about the Vietnam war but were disabled by the school. The STRAW Bill demands that such right be allowed, the freedom of expression by the students. The Act entitled The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 is an act in the United States wherein the handicapped must not be prejudiced when entering educational institutions. This was frther enhanced by The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which was enacted in 1990. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 include protection against discrimination for students with disabilities in K-12 schools as well as in postsecondary education. All of these will support the lack of its provisions in the STRAW Bill.

More sources coming from American Jurisprudence and legislated laws similar to the STRAW Bill will be used in this study. Secondary sources such as the local newspaper articles will also be scrutinized and used to be able to present the dire need for this Bill to be made into law.