BAGUIO CITY – The Division of city Schools of the Department of Education cited that there are no miscellaneous and tuition fees in public elementary and secondary schools that will be abolished considering that the government is mandated to provide free education to the youth.
Education Assistant Regional Director and concurrent City Schools Superintendent Francis Cesar B. Bringas said it is clear that the policy of the department is that there will be no collection of the mandatory fees and the agreed fees during enrolment of the students for their classes staring the first Monday of June every year.
However, he pointed that collection of fees will only be done several months after the opening of classes but parents could not be compelled to pay such fees if they really have no money to settle the mandatory and agreed fees of their children going to school.
“We could not really force parents to pay the accumulated fees of their children if they do not have the money to pay,” Bringas stressed.
Bringas said the mandatory fees such as the boy and girl scout, antiTB, school organ, among others is directly remitted to the organizations where it is supposed to be given while other fees for security guards, Parents, Teachers and Community Association (PTCA) fee, among others are agreed upon by the PTCA during their regular meetings.
According to him, the fees agreed by the PTCA are used to augment the services of the school which are not covered by the allocations of the school for maintenance and other operating expenses and other available funds provided by the education department and the city government.
Bringas appealed to parents to make sure that they attend the regular meetings of the PTCA in the different public elementary and secondary schools for them to raise their concerns regarding the collection of the agreed fees so that issues and concerns will be immediately addressed by concerned PTCA officers in order to prevent such issues from being blown out of proportion through other means.
He asserted the collection of the mandatory and agreed fees during enrolment is not mandatory but school officials welcome parents who want to voluntarily pay such fees for the benefit of their children in the public elementary and secondary schools around the city.
The education official advise concerned PTCA officers in the different public elementary and secondary schools in the city to take time in explaining to their fellow parents the importance of the mandatory fees and agreed fees in helping the school uplift the protection of the school and their children from unscrupulous activities and for the protection of government property.
He claimed that school officials compelling parents to pay the prescribed school fees will be subjected to the imposition of sanctions by the education department considering that there should be no forced collection of fees in the public elementary and secondary schools nationwide.
By Dexter A. See
