Painted with gold to conceal the rust, with no attempt to fix the rotten education system that is still unjust. The Polytechnic University of the Philippines conforms to the typical student assessment standard as it conducted its first batch of the annual College Entrance Test on January 28, 2024.
The Republic Act 10931, also known as ‘The Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act’ enacted in 2017, provides free tuition and exemption from other fees in state universities and colleges (SUCs), including local universities and colleges (LUCs). With this subsidy made available, aiming to provide accessible education to the impoverished sectors, most colleges included in this law raised their standards to carefully select the rightful beneficiaries.
The university’s examination, popularly known as PUPCET, is among the existing College Entrance Tests (CETs). These examinations determine the beneficiaries of the free tuition law, along with assessing their academic performance in the previous years on specific subjects. Combining their overall performance in the CETs with their General Weighted Average (GWA) in the previous years determines their fighting chance to pursue their studies for free.
Article 14, Section 1 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution states that “The State shall 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.”
However, it is still evident that CETs are not reliable equalizers for students who have different financial capabilities. CETs do not level the playing field between those who have access to resources and those who cannot afford a reviewer to equip themselves. Not to mention that most state institutions have grade requirements to evaluate a student's eligibility to apply. These criteria represent inconsideration and deprivation, making college education available exclusively to the most intelligent and financially capable individuals. Educational institutions should stop fitting students into one single box and judging their worth with a general scaling system.
How can an ordinary student catch up with those who can afford review centers and those who only worry about their studies when they were raised in poverty and have to worry about responsibilities that they shouldn’t? The system for CETs perpetuates an imbalance between the more financially capable takers and the underprivileged ones.
Additionally, education should be accessible to everyone, and no competition must be established that only strips students of the chance to shape their future. Students should never feel that if they are average students and are incapable of affording tuition fees, their dreams are in vain. There should never be prejudice about who rightfully deserves to make their dreams happen. No student should sacrifice their future just because the authorities refuse to acknowledge that the education system is rotten and almost hopeless.
Last year, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno proposed a National Test' for SUC aspirants to be entitled to the free tuition subsidy aside from the exams conducted by universities. His suggestion resulted from the increase in dropout rates in SUCs, which he perceives to be “inefficient and wasteful.”
On the contrary, implementing a national test will only widen the gap to access tertiary education, overlooking the fact that dropout rates have increased significantly due to financial barriers brought by the pandemic and high inflation rate. What we need is a genuine and considerate solution, not a suggestion based on an assumption that hasn’t even studied the reasons why most SUC students end up as college dropouts.
Let us continue advocating for free, accessible education for all. Call out the flaws of the education system and never stop demanding more. If basic education is considered a constitutional right, then legislators should never stop making amendments until the system becomes considerate of what the masses need.
The government should analyze the problems and make the necessary changes to the education system to make it better. Urge the state universities to come up with a comprehensive means to properly assess their applicants, excluding academic performance and examinations their primary standards. Amendments should never stop until the struggle for tertiary education has been finally alleviated and the underprivileged students are no longer conditioned to believe that their dreams are invalid.
The college entrance examination is like paint in the shade of gold. Coating the rusting education system to picture itself as a means to provide an equal opportunity for all. In reality, no matter how reliable it may seem, it will end up collapsing if left unfixed. Only pleasant to the eyes, but hell to the students’ lives.
Article: Danielle C. Barredo
Cartoon: Randzmar Longcop
What is your alternative to entrance exam?