A House leader has raised alarm over the country’s high dropout rates in higher education, urging members of the 20th Congress to address crucial gaps in student support systems.
“Education reform is not just a legislative agenda – but a moral responsibility. It embodies our commitment that no Filipino will be left behind,” said House Committee on Higher and Technical Education Chairperson and TINGOG Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre.
“Every policy we craft, every program we support, every project we pursue, must always be anchored on them whose futures depend on the choices we make today,” he added.
Acidre emphasized that access alone is not enough. “We cannot be content with policies that simply open the door to our universities. We must ensure that once our young people step through that door, they are supported to walk all the way to the finish line: to graduation, to employment, towards a brighter future,” he emphasized.
Citing national data, Acidre warned that: “Four out of ten students who enter higher education in the Philippines do not make it to the finish line. That’s a 39 percent attrition rate. But when we look at certain regions, the situation is even more alarming.”
Acidre bared that in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), nearly all students or 93.4 percent drop out from college before graduating. In Central Visayas, the figure is at 60.7 percent. In Zamboanga Peninsula, it is at 59.5 percent, and in the Cordilleras, 54.9 percent.
To confront this crisis, he laid out his legislative priorities, which include pushing for amendments to the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. He also supports a bill that champions student welfare and another proposed measure that “operationalizes the constitutionally-enshrined complementarity between public and private education institutions.”
“Let us work together to make higher education a right for all, not a privilege for the few. Let us guarantee that no Filipino learner is left behind,” Acidre appealed.
