NEWS RELEASE
2010 June 14
“Commodification of education intensifies repression!”
This was how CEGP explained the reason behind the 204 campus press freedom violations documented during its national convention last April 21-25, Negros Occidental.
“The common denominator among the 42 respondent publications is attacks to press freedom happen when they publish something critical of tuition and other fee increases and school policies. To make the assault not obvious, most of the school adminstrators withold the publication fund or worst, impose non-mandatory collection of publication fee, which ironically is supported by the Campus Journalism Act of 1991,” CEGP President Trina Federis disclosed.
Of the 204 cases of violations, 59 is fund-related, which according to the Guild is the growing trend of school administrators to silence the students’ voice. Currently, The Catalyst of PUP-Sta. Mesa and UPLB Perspective in Los Baños, known vocal student papers, are manually collecting their publication fee from thousands of students after their schools excluded them from the enrolment process.
“A lot of absurd fees are invented both in public and private schools, and what is more revolting, the little amount needed for student institutions such as the publication and council (to uphold students’ democratic rights) are removed,” Federis pointed out.
“Tomorrow, campus journalists will join the rally for the opening of classes. We will protest the continued commodification of our education which leads to perennial violations of our rights,” Federis concluded.
Reference:
Trina Federis
National President
