29/09/2025
The National Union of Students of the Philippines expresses concern over Senator Bam Aquino’s suggestion of having an “opt-out” scheme in state universities and colleges, as stated in the Senate budget hearing last September 27.
When students and youth fought for free tertiary education, they fought for a free education that would benefit all. This is under the premise that our Constitution mandates our State to “protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels, and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all.”
The opt-out scheme is a clause inserted in RA 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act wherein students have the option to “opt-out” of the free tuition. But in some state universities and colleges, this scheme is being used to force students to pay tuition for them to be able to enroll and study. We stand firm that one’s ability to pay tuition fee must not be a requisite for anyone to be able to have access to education. This passes the burden of attaining education to the people instead of our government ensuring that it is accessible.
The opt-out scheme mirrors the socialized tuition scheme which has hindered many students from accessing education. Through this, for students to be able to access free tuition, they are required to go through a bureaucratic screening process and prove that they are poor. No one deserves to go through such a tedious and dehumanizing process to attain free tuition.
Many generations of youth and students have fought hard and continue the fight to expand and strengthen free education. Pushing for an opt-out scheme or revert to a socialized tuition scheme dismisses and invalidates our victories regarding free education.
In reality, the social pressure must be for the state to fund the education sector enough and ensure that it is free, quality, and accessible for all so that no one has to worry about having to pay before attaining quality education because education is not conditional, it is a right. It is not about one’s ability to opt-out, but the State’s commitment to guarantee the fulfillment of their mandate to make education accessible to all. And we shall continue to fight for our right to education until we reach further victories, and our education system turns into one that addresses the needs of our nation—a nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented education.
