ANGELES CITY – Some schools, colleges and universities in the Philippines are possibly earning as much as P16 million on practicum fees in two months, a city official here revealed recently.
Councilor Jay Sangil disclosed that one university in this city is charging some P7,000 on practicum (or on-the-job training) fees per student.
Based on documents he obtained, Sangil noted that one student taking up Bachelor of Science in Business Administration paid at least P6,817 including the registration fee of P724 for his OJT (internship) last summer.
He said the graduating BSBA student also disclosed that enrolling their internship subject was mandatory, prompting all 47 of them to take the two-month summer classes.
“We do not know why we have to take up and pay for our internship during summer when it could be included in the regular semester,” the student was quoted as saying.
He added that at least 300 graduating students under the College of Business and Administration have paid for the internship program. “Kung hindi ka magbabayad, hindi ka naman makaka-graduate dahil requirement yun (if you’ll not going to pay, you will not graduate because that is a requirement).”
Sangil said that if there are 300 students in one college department and pay for the P6,817 OJT fee, the school earns at least P2,045,100.
“There are eight departments or colleges, and multiplying P2,045,100 by eight means that the school could earn as much as P16,360,800 only in two months,” he said.
The councilor also noted that on top of the P6,817 OJT fee, students often shoulder the food and transportation expenses during the duration of the practicum.
An executive of a top multi-national corporation in the country who refused to be named said that in accepting practicumers, they are not receiving any charging fees from schools, colleges or universities.
“We receive practicumers and we even give them allowances,” he said.
A professional who graduated in the same university here in 1999 said that before, the school was not charging any OJT fees and that practicum or internship was included on regular semesters and not during summer classes.
For his part, Sangil urged school officials to stop charging students with exorbitant and questionable fees.
“They should give us a clear justification and explanation why, where and how it is being used or spent,” said Sangil.
“I am not talking politics here. What I raised is a legitimate question since thousands of heavily burdened students and parents are affected with this kind of ‘injustice,’” the councilor stressed.
Aside from paying the said fees, Sangil also noted that 98 percent of the effort came from students in taking up their practicum.
He also said that out of the six requirements – endorsement letter from the school (waiver), getting DOLE clearance, evaluation form to be filled up by the company, 200 hours completion, company certification and filled up evaluation form on student’s performance, and profile of the company – only two are being done by the school.
Sangil earlier challenged the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to look into his report. He said one university official he had asked about the OJT fees failed to justify the imposition.
On the other hand, the city council here also asked Senator Edgardo Angara to intervene and possibly sponsor a legislation barring colleges and universities from imposing unnecessary financial requirements on their students.
