PHILIPPINE INCLUSIVE SYSTEM FOR COLLEGE ENTRY OF STUDENTS

PHILIPPINE INCLUSIVE SYSTEM FOR COLLEGE ENTRY OF STUDENTS My advocacy partner Mr. Roi Baluyot and I have created the Philippine Inclusive System for College Entry of Students (PISCES), for the purpose of making it easier for prospective students from the marginalized sectors to enter any of the State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) that are located all over the Philippines. Although tuition is free in these SUCs, many prospective students find it difficult to proceed, because of possible expenses that they could not afford, such as books, learning materials, snacks, board and lodging, specifically for dormitory fees if they are from out of town. This idea started when Mr. Baluyot informed me that there are some UP alumni groups in the United States who are concerned about the fact that the the majority of the students who are presently enrolled in the UP campuses right now are mostly coming from the upper classes. That reality defeats the purpose of UP becoming a "university of the people". To address this problem, we thought of a program that is intended mainly for the Diliman campus. Eventually, we realized that we should not limit it to the Diliman campus, because UP has many other campuses where students could enroll, depending on what courses they will choose. Ultimately, we concluded that we should not only limit the program to the UP campuses, but we should expand it to include all SUC campuses. Technically, all students who are admitted to UP and to all the SUC campuses are "scholars of the people", but the value of that is diminished, because many students eventually drop out because they could not afford all the other expenses that are related to their campus journey. Hopefully, we could start solving this problem. What a waste if these students are already admitted, only to drop out. Could CHED do something? IKE SENERES/6-21-2024