Private schools hike tuition

PRIVATE schools are jacking up their tuition by as much as 15 percent for the coming school year, the Department of Education (DepEd) said on Thursday.

Education assistant secretary and agency spokesman Jonathan Malaya, however, stressed that only less than 10 percent of the nearly 10,000 private schools have applied for a tuition increase.

“There is a 15 percent application but it is very rare,” Malaya told The Manila Times.

He added that the tuition in private schools remains stable because on the average the increase was from 6 percent to 8 percent.

“Mostly 6 to 8 percent from last year’s tuition [was the increase made]. But there are many of those who applied for tuition hikes from 1 percent to 5 percent,” he said, adding that most of the requests are from the regions.

He did not say if Metro Manila had the highest increase in tuition or what region asked for the highest increase.

“[Education] Secretary [Mona] Valisno thanked the private schools for heeding the DepEd’s appeal for social responsibility at this time. The DepEd will monitor private schools for increases without prior appeal,” he added.

Close to 23 million private and public students in elementary and high school troop back to their classes on June 15.

The Education department earlier said that they are ready for the school opening and their preparations include protecting students from the expected rains and the (AH1N1) virus that threatened students during the last school year. –FRANCIS EARL A. CUETO Reporter, Manila Times