While more and more young Filipinos are given access to higher education, giving every student the resources and opportunities they need to achieve full academic and social potential is becoming a problem according to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

“Over the past years, we are concerned that while access is happening, equity is becoming a problem,” said CHED Chairman Popoy De Vera during the launch of the new initiative called“Paglaum kag Pagdaug” on Monday, Feb. 12.

De Vera noted that since 2018, when free higher education was launched, access to higher education has “really succeeded or happened in this country” with more and more young Filipinos going to universities.

“The participation rate in higher education has increased to over 40 percent,” De Vera said. “So clearly, our public universities have been successful in increasing access,” he added.

However, De Vera pointed out that as more and more students take the admission tests in public universities, the admission system becomes “more and more competitive.”

In the University of the Philippines (UP), for instance, the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) draws over 100,000 students to take the examination but only about 14,500 will be accepted.

The same goes for the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), De Vera said. “You will be surprised that in PUP, in the main campus where the best programs are, in the last exam, there were 100,000 applicants and they’re only getting 12,000,” he added.

Given this, De Vera expressed concern with the issue of equity in higher education.

“We must be concerned that if our admission system is not examined, there is a possibility, as what happens in other countries all over the world, that those who are less prepared to go university, those coming from public schools, rural areas, the children of indigenous communities, are going to get marginalized and they won’t be able to enter universities,” De Vera said.

In addition to equity issues, De Vera also highlighted another significant concern in higher education: the "very high" attrition rate.

“We might be succeeding in bringing in more young people to the universities but many of them fall by the wayside and do not complete their education,” De Vera explained.

To address the growing issues of equity and other related concerns in higher education, CHED also launched an initiative called “Paglaum kag Pagdaug.”

The initiative, De Vera explained, will focus on student admission and retention. “So this is our initiative that we are launching today, this is the big initiative of the Commission for 2024,” he added.

Through the “Paglaum kag Pagdaug,” CHED endeavors to champion quality, equity, and inclusivity in higher education by providing “hope and victory” to disadvantaged students to have an improved quality of life.

READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2024/2/12/hope-and-victory-ched-launches-initiative-on-inclusive-higher-education