Kabacan, Cotabato – We condemn the approved In-House Review Policy of the University of Southern Mindanao. The said policy obliged the students to have their review in the university. This serves as an answer of the college dean, Dr. Leorencio Tandog, to uplift the student’s performance in the LET (Licensure Examination for Teachers) in the past few years. Since the decreasing performance rate of the graduates is clearly manifested, the said dean proposed the said In-house Review for monitoring purposes. Part of this is taking the mock board exam to measure the ability of the graduating students. This will impose a rule that failing the exam means a failure to graduate.

We observed that in this case, students’ right to choose is obviously violated. The constitution states that every Filipino has the freedom to choose, why then force the students to take the review in the University Review Center?

Another is making the mock board exam as a prerequisite to graduation is really unfair for the students. Yes, they can have mock board exam as an assessment in their performance but making it as a requirement for graduation is not right.

The Dean’s claim that this would help the students is not true. It does not really intend to help the students yet it intends to help in upholding the prestige name of the University and of course to serve the interest of the business oriented institution.

This so-called quality graduates does not rely in the two months review or having mock board exam but it is merely dependent in the four-year stay of the students in the University. Ensuring quality education should be done in the four-year stay of the students in the University by providing them the needed instructional materials and facilities.

This clearly manifests the interest of the University in gaining more profit. Obliging the students to have In-House Review would mean more income to the said University. More income with zero tax for any establishment inside a University is tax free.

This issue is one of the noticeably examples of the commercialization of the state university and the education as a whole. University of Southern Mindanao is a state university gaining support from the government.

The said university has a lot of IGP (income generating projects) like hostel, Café Martena, ICTC, plantation (corn, palay, rambutan, lanzones, durian, rubber, oil palm, etc.) and the University Review Center. These IGPs are the answer of the University to the budget cut in education.

The government contributed much in this issue. This was the effect of the budget cut. The said act of the administration violates the prioritization of education.

Though the government pushes SUCs to increase tuition, miscellaneous fees, having IGPs, SUCs must still consider the welfare of the students. Instead of adding more burdens to the students and parents (who are directly affected in the increases), they must help to decrease the burdens.

We are against the In-House Review since it’s a violation to the students’ right, an additional burden and unjust policy. It’s more of self interest rather than helping the students.

If you want to have quality education in order to produce competitive graduates, provide the basic needs of the students rather than taking away almost everything from them.

Ivy Castaneda, Jay Apiag, Jenifer Cardo, John Rey Ortiz, Donalyn Jane Morante, Darwin Rey Morante