(Eagle News) — Expect more walk-outs on February 23.
Kabataan Party-list Rep. Sarah Elago had this to say after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to give the slots of University of the Philippines students who kept on “walking out” of classes to bright and deserving lumads instead.
“(On that day), expect even more students to walk out of their classes to fight Duterte’s dictatorship and tyrannical attacks on the youth and the people,” the militant lawmaker said in a statement.
She said the President’s statement “exposes the true nature of his ‘free education’ scam.”
Not all, after all, she said, “will benefit.”
“Instead of guaranteeing the right of every child to education, (the President) dangles it around every time there is opposition to his fanatical dictatorship..As if education is free in UP and other state universities,” she said.
According to Elago, “many students continue to suffer from skyrocketing costs of tuition and other school fees, causing growing discontent and rage among the youth.”
“Duterte can only shake at the growing resistance to his attacks on the youth,” she said.
On Thursday, the President criticized the UP students who take to the streets instead of studying, and therefore waste the taxpayers’ money funding their education.
“Go ahead. If you don’t want to go to school, get out of there because I will bring (indigenous) students who are bright and put them there. A lot of Filipinos want to have an excellent education,” the President said.