‘No permit, no exam’ bill hurts educational system

By: The Editorial Board

LAWMAKERS should oppose bills that would prohibit the "no permit, no exam" policy practiced by schools. Those bills are clearly
populist attempts to portray political figures as pro-poor. Actually, they threaten the economic viability of thousands of private schools
across the country, not to mention their employees and others benefiting from them.

In the Senate, for instance, senators have filed Senate Bill 1359. If enacted, it will make the "no permit, no exam" practice unlawful
and impose a penalty ranging from P20,000 to P50,000 for every violation.

In a sponsorship speech, Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero said, "By any moral yardstick, forcing a student to forfeit an exam is the
cruelest of fines. It triggers a chain of events that is sometimes life-altering for the student, for the worse, not only of denied diplomas
but also of dead dreams."

Other senators have said something similar, and their counterparts in the House of Representative have been working on their own
version of the bill. In fact, there had been previous attempts to pass similar legislation with no success.

Poor policymaking

Of course, everyone should help others in need, but not at the expense of those who are also in financial distress. Private institutions
have not yet recovered from the economic impact of the pandemic. They have already lost millions of students who transferred to
public schools because of financial difficulties.

That should worry lawmakers because public schools are already crowded. But the government lacks the resources to build more
classrooms, repair damaged ones and provide other facilities that ensure quality education. Students may graduate eventually, but as
businesses have complained before, many of them are deficient in skills needed by industries.

Private schools help decongest public schools, and in doing so, address the job-mismatch problem and other quality issues. Obviously,
every learner who enrolls in a private school — because he or she can either afford the tuition or is a recipient of some government
subsidy — means one fewer student in an already packed public-school classroom.

Lawmakers fail to appreciate that private school owners spend their capital for a public good. In other words, the private sector shares
the burden of educating Filipinos. The 1987 Constitution recognizes this partnership and has a provision on the complementarity role
of public and private schools.

Regretfully, legislators have not passed an implementing law on complementarity. Worse, some of them are again pushing bills that
undermine one of the two pillars of the Philippine education system.

Senate Bill 1359 and its House counterpart assume that private schools lack compassion for the poor. But like any business, private
schools have a self-interest to delight their customers. Private schools already allow installments and deferment of payments. Others
even accept promissory notes to an extent.

In most cases, a "no permit, no exam" policy is invoked as a last resort.

Even when it is not the final option, disallowing that makes it harder for schools to collect payments on time.

Meanwhile, the schools' obligations, like salaries and utility payments, cannot be deferred until schools have collected enough tuition.
They could be forced to shut down for that.

Also, not all private schools have deep pockets, like Ateneo or De La Salle. Many of them are small and medium enterprises. Some
are even missionary institutions that serve communities that have no access to any other school.

If lawmakers want to help poor students, they could increase public spending on student vouchers. Congress could also raise the
allocation for recipients of conditional cash-transfers who have children attending grade school. Another idea is for the government to
offer more scholarships, grants and financial assistance to students at all levels.

There are many ways of helping the poor. Rather than thinking of effective solutions, some lawmakers are passing on the burden to
private schools. At the same time, they are hoping to score cheap publicity points. Terrible.

Private schools, along with all their stakeholders, should not be made to suffer from the inability of some lawmakers to craft laws that
do not threaten jobs and undermine enterprises.