By Hannah Torregoza Senators on Tuesday urged the government to maintain a pro-student approach in implementing the free college education law. Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara said he is optimistic, that once implemented, the law would help reduce the number of out-of-school youths in the country as it aims to provide subsidy to poor students enrolled in state colleges and universities for the payment of tuition and other fees. Senate of the Philippines / Manila Bulletin “We are hoping that this landmark law will be implemented smoothly and efficiently,” said Angara, one of the authors of the law and pursued a P40-billion funding for Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. “The special financial assistance should reach our poor students to really help them defray the cost of college education,” said the senator. Angara said that a 2016 survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that one in every 10 Filipinos aged between six and 24 years is an out-of-school child or youth. The same survey showed that of the 3.8 million out-of-school children/youths, 87 percent were 16 to 24 years old, eight percent were 12 to 15 years old, and five percent were six to 11 years old. This showed that 53 percent of the total out of school children/youths belong to the poorest 30 percent of Filipino families. The free college education law covers tuition, miscellaneous and other school fees of students enrolled in 112 state universities and colleges (SUCs), 78 local universities and colleges (LUCs), and all technical-vocation education and training (TVET) programs registered under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). It also provides a Tertiary Education Subsidy to provide allowance to poor students for books, supplies, transportation, room and board, personal computer or laptop, and other education-related personal expenses. Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Commission on Higher Edcuation (CHED) and participating tertiary and technical-vocational education institutions to ensure that the implementing rules and regulation (IRR) of the law, which CHED recently launched would be helpful in ensuring a “pro-student” approach as it contains a detailed list of benefits and fee exemptions that will be enjoyed by the students. “I urge SUCs, LUCs, and TVIs to strictly observe the provisions of RA 10931 and its IRR, so that we will be able to achieve the essential goal of the law—to make educational opportunities at the tertiary level truly accessible to all Filipinos,” said Gatchalian, one of the authors of the law. At the same time, Gatchalian assured that the Senate will be watching over the implementation of the program very closely. “We will not hesitate to use our legislative oversight functions to immediately address any problems in the implementation of the law—especially if students are being forced to pay fees that they should not have to under the law,” he stressed.