Rise for Education Davao condemned the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Memorandum No. 117, Series of 2026, issued on April 7, calling it a “band-aid solution” to the crisis faced by students and the public. The memo allows all universities and colleges to enforce 100% online learning, supposedly to ease the burden of students and teachers.

The alliance said this is a blatant deception that repeats the failed learning schemes of the COVID-19 pandemic while dumping the full weight of the crisis onto the youth and their parents. In effect, it frees the state from its responsibilities to the education sector.

“Recalling the state of education during the COVID-19 pandemic, its threat to accessible, quality, and democratic education was clear,” Rise for Education Davao said. Nearly 2.3 million students were forced to drop out due to lac gadgets and stable internet connection at that time.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority in 2022, only 49% of households had internet access. This situation has not improved. Added to this are frequent blackouts, expensive mobile data, and broken laptops. The state has provided no aid or subsidy to ease these problems.

“The state is simply shifting the financial burden to students and their families,” the group said. They are forced to shoulder expenses for internet, electricity, and devices, on top of already soaring tuition in private universities and poor-quality services in public universities starved of funds.

The real solution, the group stressed, lies in addressing the roots of the economic and transport crisis.

“The government must answer the needs and demands of students and the people,” it said. It must immediately increase the education budget, freeze tuition hikes in private universities, control oil prices, remove VAT and excise taxes, and provide financial aid to every Filipino.

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