Citing data from the Office of Scholarships and Student Services (OSSS), the Office of the Student Regent revealed that 5,391 students applied for student loans in UP Diliman alone. As of last semester, the OSR said, 1,218 students were not able to pay their loans before the scheduled release of grades.
Despite government claims that it has been increasing the budget for education, still the public school system is hardly coping with the shortages, and state universities and colleges have been raising tuition, thereby making tertiary education inaccessible for the poor.
Parents of UP student Kristel Tejada, who committed suicide after failing to pay her tuition, refuse to simply move on with their lives; they want to make sure other families would not have to go through the tragedy they experienced.
MANILA – Teachers, students, workers and other sectors in the University of the Philippines (UP) staged Just Run, Run for Kristel Tejada and all Iskolar ng Bayan, April 7 at the UP Diliman. The run is the first activity of the newly formed UP Alliance for Justice for Kristel, Justice for all Iskolar ng Bayan.…
By being defensive and resorting to the distasteful tack of insinuating that serious family problems likely triggered the suicide, UP officials not only miss the entire point but also the opportunity to confront the real problems plaguing the entire university.