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State Funding of Private Education
State Funding of Private Education
Art II, Section 20, 1987 Philippine Constitution. The State recognizes the
indispensable role of the private sector, encourages private enterprise, and
provides incentives to needed investments.
Art XIV, Section 4, 1987 Philippine Constitution. The State recognizes the
complementary roles of public and private institutions in the educational
system and shall exercise reasonable supervision and regulation of all
educational institutions.
In the first, taxes collected from private individuals and entities (including
private schools) are used to fund public education in the SUCs. Over the
years, issues such as overcrowding of students, inefficient use of public
funds; poor facilities and resources; low quality of education; and even
corruption and misappropriation of public funds continue to hound this
view of “privatization” of public higher education.
But still, majority of parents cannot afford to send their children to private
higher educational institutions and only the advantaged are able to do so.
According to the OECD report in 2015, this leads to stratification of
students who come from private and public schools. Students in the private
schools are said to have better opportunities for development and growth,
and gainful employment after school, while those from public schools
have limited opportunities to succeed.
Thus, the need for government to level the playing field across socio-
economic classes in order to avoid stratification and maintain equity in
education opportunities for all students, regardless of their socio-economic
backgrounds. According to the same OECD report, the level of public
funding of private education has a direct correlation in the stratification of
education. In those countries where privately managed schools receive
higher proportions of public funding, there is less stratification between
publicly and privately managed schools.
AN ACT PROMOTING UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO QUALITY TERTIARY EDUCATION BY PROVIDING FOR FREE
TUITION AND OTHER SCHOOL FEES IN STATE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES, LOCAL UNIVERSITIES
AND COLLEGES AND STATE-RUN TECHNICAL-VOCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, ESTABLISHING THE
TERTIARY EDUCATION SUBSIDY AND STUDENT LOAN PROGRAM, STRENGTHENING THE UNIFIED
STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE SYSTEM FOR TERTIARY EDUCATION, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS
THEREFOR
National Budget Circular 542, issued by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM)
on August 29, 2012, reiterates compliance with Section 93 of the General Appropriations Act
of FY 2012. Section 93 is the Transparency Seal provision, to wit:
Sec. 93. Transparency Seal. To enhance transparency and enforce accountability, all
national government agencies shall maintain a transparency seal on their official websites.
The transparency seal shall contain the following information: (i) the agency’s mandates and
functions, names of its officials with their position and designation, and contact information;
(ii) annual reports, as required under National Budget Circular Nos. 507 and 507-A dated
January 31, 2007 and June 12, 2007, respectively, for the last three (3) years; (iii) their
respective approved budgets and corresponding targets immediately upon approval of this
Act; (iv) major programs and projects categorized in accordance with the five key results
areas under E.O. No. 43, s. 2011; (v) the program/projects beneficiaries as identified in the
applicable special provisions; (vi) status of implementation and program/project evaluation
and/or assessment reports; and (vii) annual procurement plan, contracts awarded and the
name of contractors/suppliers/consultants.