City councilors Alfie Bonifacio and Jay Sangil. File photo
ANGELES CITY – Two city councilors here co-sponsored resolutions requiring private schools to lower their tuition fees by at least 20 to 30 percent and free wi-fi for students and their teachers.
City councilors Jesus “Jay” Sangil and Alfie Bonifacio, who co-sponsored the said resolutions, said the first resolution to lower the tuition fees is reasonable because of the crisis brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sangil said private schools can lower tuition fees because under the so called “New Normal,” they will now have less maintenance and less electrical consumption because the students as well as their teachers are at home.
This explains why the Commission on Higher Education has not yet given the green light to raise tuition fees for this school year even if there are already pending petitions from private schools, he added.
Sangil also said the resolution is very timely because of the crisis brought about by the pandemic which put restrictions in our movements and less income from work.
Private schools will practically have nobody in classrooms since everybody is at home. The Inter Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases headed by the Department of Health does not allow face-to-face classroom teaching.
President Duterte himself approved the scheme because he wants a vaccine against Covid-19 first before allowing students back in their classrooms.
Sangil said “distance learning” is now being recommended by the Department of Education. The scheme describes any learning that happens without the students being physically present in the lesson. However, this could also apply to the teacher in certain situations.
Historically, this described correspondence courses in which students would communicate with their schools or teachers by mail.
Bonifacio said the other resolution is asking PLDT to provide free wi-fi in public schools. He said, so far, PLDT has committed free wi-fi at city hall and at the City College of Angeles.
Meanwhile, Sangil is calling on other municipal and city councilors in the region to sponsor similar resolutions to help the students, their teachers and their parents cope with the crisis situation.
