ANTIPOLO City, Oct. 11, 2011—The Kabataan Partylist reminded schools to strictly comply with the Commission on Higher Education’s Manual of Regulations for Private Higher Education Institutions, which states that students should be permitted to get their final examinations, notwithstanding their balance on their school accounts or tuition fees to avoid legal sanctions.
Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino said in a statement that even though the anti-no permit, no exam law is still pending in Congress, the Section 99 of the Article 20 of the said Manual says that “No higher education institution shall deny FINAL exams to a student who has outstanding financial obligations, including unpaid tuition and other school fees corresponding to the school term.”
The young lawmaker said, the Anti-No Permit, No Exam Act was only created since private HEIs continue to violate the aforementioned section of the Manual.
“The necessity of creating an ‘anti-no permit, no exam’ law was borne by the loose compliance of schools to an existing policy that allows students with pending arrears to take their final exams. I earnestly remind our schools to ensure that all students will be allowed to take their exams– even those with existing financial obligations to the school,” Palatino, an education major himself, said.
Although the impending law, or the House Bill No. 4791, sanctions the act of prohibiting the student from taking his or her final exams, Palatino explained that HEIs should not fear of non-payment of the outstanding bills as the law also provides that the school has the right to hold the student’s records, for example, the Transcript of Records and diploma of the student, until the payment has been settled.
He also said that the delayed payment of the matriculation and other fees would not ‘hurt’ the school’s chest, since 30 per cent of the fees should be paid on time of enrollment and the remaining is automatically paid since the student needs to be cleared from all obligations in order to get his or her grades and other records.
“It should be clarified that the bill is not against our schools. We hold in high esteem our private schools as partners in creating the best education practices. And it is precisely for this reason that I urge them to forgo the ‘no permit, no exam’ policy and uphold the right of all students to take exams,” Palatino said.
He also added that once the consolidated bill is tackled in the Senate, he will push for the inclusion of basic education in its scope and graver sanctions for offenders. [Noel Sales Barcelona/CBCPNews]
