‘Stricter screening for free education to hurt marginalized students’Photo taken last June shows senior high school graduates preparing to take the UPCAT at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. MANILA, Philippines — Introducing competitive screening to filter the number of beneficiaries of free higher education would disadvantage marginalized students, groups defending the government’s free tertiary education program said. The proposal — only verbal as of press time — has been met with criticism from groups who stressed that students from low-income households depend on the government’s free education program to complete their tertiary studies. As a result, it becomes more difficult for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds to afford quality higher education,” the group added. Improved progression rateWhile there are local and international studies showing the government’s free higher education program disproportionately benefits high-income students, there is data showing more Filipino high school students can advance to college after the enactment of the free higher education law in 2018.

Source: Philippine Star September 18, 2023 20:04 UTC