Gov’t fails students studying in Philippine Uni due to unpaid fees
By ANDREW FANASIA
MORE than 300 Solomon Islands’ students studying in AMA Quezon City Campus in the Philippines are in shock after they were denied entry into the exam venue due to unpaid tuition by the Government.
Speaking to Solomon Star from the Philippines yesterday Solomon Islands Student Association Philippine (SISAP) Vice President Edwin Mackay Paine said it is indeed a sad day for the hardworking students.
“Yes, I can confirm that students will not sit for their mid-term exams and they just cannot understand and accept the situation as they feel their government has forsaken them,” he added.
In a telephone call from Quezon City, Paine told this paper that since the beginning of this year, the government through the Ministry of Education assured university authorities that they would pay up.
“Throughout the year we were given special treatment because a letter was sent by the Ministry of Education assuring the University authority that they will meet our tuition fees up until the final exams.
“But they haven’t paid at all,” the emotional Paine said.
He further added that when Solomon Islands students went to the school registrar to get their exam permit’, they were told by the University authority that they will not issue them their permit since no payments have been done by their sponsor.
“Only a handful of students are lucky because their professors allow them to sit for their exams whilst most of us will be locked out till payments are done by the government,” Paine said.
This paper was told that the Ministry of Education is aware of this situation since last week through the SISAP office in the Philippines.
Our sources within MEHRD told this paper that the tuition fee payments for the students studying in AMA Quezon City Campus is still with the Education Ministry’s Finance Division.
With the government’s lengthy payment process, coupled with the precarious government situation, these students will have to wait a little while longer.
Meanwhile, a Bachelor in Science and Business Administration student Francis Ramo Taloa told this paper from AMA Quezon City Campus that this experience is just too much for the students to handle.
“We have been working hard throughout our trimester and to end up like this is just so heart-breaking.
“We hope our government and MEHRD can come up with an amicable solution to end such thing from happening again,” Taloa said.
