QUEZON City, Philippines (Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic managers rejected the proposed free tuition for state universities and colleges.
In a joint statement, Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Budget and Management Secretary Ben Diokno said that they are more in favor of implementing a student assistance fund or the UniFast.
The Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) Act or Unifast bill, established through Republic Act No. 10687, aims to provide all its citizens to access to quality education. It also aims to unify and harmonize all modalities of publicly-funded Student Financial Assistance Programs such as scholarships, grants-in-aid, and student loans for tertiary education. The law provides full financing to deserving students, which generally “favors” the poor.
According to the economic managers, the student assistance fund is a better alternative compared to free tuition because it will ensure that the government funds will be given to students in need.
In their joint position letter, the cabinet officials said that UniFAST provides a more coherent and comprehensive framework to address the educational needs of the students and is better designed to ensure a more efficient and effective use of government funds.
Eagle News Service
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