Lawmaker urged student-leaders to ‘step-up’ support for swift passage of STRAW bill

Iloilo City — Akbayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez on Saturday addressed a nationwide alliance of student-leaders to ‘step-up’ their support for the ‘swift and immediate’ passage of the Students’ Rights and Welfare (STRAW) bill, saying ‘ the absence of a national policy on the issue has exposed the rights and welfare of the students to various forms of suppression and violations’.

The lawmaker made this call during the 9th Congress of the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines (SCAP) held at the Central Philippine University (CPU) in Iloilo City where 200 student-leaders from across the country were assembled.

“As students and young leaders of your respective colleges and universities, everyone here understands the importance of HB 4435 in protecting the rights and welfare of the each student,” Gutierrez said.

HB 4435, which was jointly drafted by Akbayan Rep. Gutierrez and SCAP, seeks to create a comprehensive national framework on the protection and promotion of the rights and welfare of students.

The proposed legislation also seeks to combat the discriminatory policies, inadequate student services, lack of student representation and participation, imposition of unnecessary fees and unjust disciplinary sanctions continue to exist within educational institutions.

“Rights now, we have existing laws that attempts to address this need. There is RA 6728 for the students studying in private higher educational institutions (PHEIs); and, RA 7722 for students in state universities and colleges (SUCs),” Gutierrez said.
“In reality, however, discriminatory policies, suppression of political rights and imposition of unjust fees continue to exist,” the lawmaker added. “And there is a need to correct that.”

The lawmaker also expressed is concern the weakness in the state’s ability to regulate the private institutions in the provision of education, as a result of the deregulation of the education sector, has furthered the suppression of the rights and welfare of students.

“Due to a deregulated education sector, the enforcement and application of the various education policies that seek to protect the rights and welfare of the students has been skewed. In particular, the Commission on Higher Educational Development (CHED) mandated to regulate the tertiary educational system is severely limited in power over the PHEIs,” the lawmaker said.

CHED is the government agency that regulates and sets the required standards and condition for the SUCs.

“As a result, complaints from these institutions will be more challenging for the state education agencies to resolve,” he added.

The proposed legislation, thus, also seeks to close the policy implementation gap between private higher educational institutions (PHEIs) and state universities and colleges (SUCs) to ensure that there is fairness and equity on how each student is treated.

Immediate passage

In an effort to ensure the passage of the bill, the lawmaker reiterated the Alliance of its crucial role in the process.

“Your active involvement and vigorous participation throughout will remain crucial as we work harder for its immediate passage,” Gutierrez said.

“There is still a lot of work that must be done. But with your enthusiasm and continuous support, I am positive that we will achieve more gains in this struggle,” he concluded.###

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The Student Council Alliance of the Philippines [SCAP] is the largest student council and student political party formation in the country representing more than 150 campuses and 30 chapters nationwide.

The SCAP National Congress takes place every two years to gather allied student political parties and student councils in a venture to welcome new members, to reaffirm the organization’s guiding principles, to report the accomplishments of the previous leadership, and to elect the new leaders of the organization.

The 9th National Congress is held in the Central Philippine University (CPU), Iloilo, with the theme: “Build Better Together”. It is a 4-day event from June 19-22, 2014.

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22 June 2014
For Immediate Release
PRESS RELEASE
Contact Person: Rose Humiwat @ 0905-132-5474

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