Discounts on basic services for underprivileged students pushed in Senate
Credit to Author: JAVIER J. ISMAEL| Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2019 05:42:50 +0000
SEN. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara has filed a bill which calls for discounts on basic services such as food, medicine and school supplies for underprivileged students.
Recognizing that tuition and other school fees are only part of the myriad of expenses incurred by families for their children, Angara filed Senate Bill 132 or the proposed Underprivileged Student’s Discount Act of 2019.
“The Free Tuition Law has gone a long way in easing the burden of families for the education of their children. But for most families, there are still a lot of out-of-pocket expenses that they have to cope with and for them, every peso counts,” Angara said.
According to the results of the 2016 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS) almost 10 percent of the estimated 39 million Filipinos 6 to 24 years old are out-of-school children and youth (OSCY).
In this report, OSCY refers to family members 6 to 14 years old who are not attending formal school; and family members 15 to 24 years old who are currently out of school, not gainfully employed, and have not finished college or post-secondary course.
The most common reasons among OSCYs for not attending school are marriage or family matters (42.3%), high cost of education or financial concerns (20.2%), and lack of personal interest (19.7%).
About 53 percent of OSCYs nationwide belong to families whose income fall at the bottom 30 percent based on their per capita income.
Meanwhile, according to the Commission on Higher Education, tuition makes up a mere 30 to 40 percent of a family’s out-of-pocket expenses.
Among the regular expenses incurred by Filipino families for their children are transportation, food, medicine, school supplies and miscellaneous school fees.
As far as transportation is concerned, students will soon enjoy a 20 percent discount on fares throughout the year with the signing into law of Republic Act 11314 or the Student Fare Discount Law, of which Angara was one of the authors.
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