Thread by @mocking_4jay

There shouldn’t be UPCA/UPCAT in the first place.

Neither intellectual capacity nor financial capability must be the basis on giving students quality education. It must be for everyone who aspires to study in College. We shouldn’t be competing and proving ourselves for that.

However, we understand why UP, as of now, resorts to this type of admission qualification. Its resources are limited, its budget continuously slashed, and it begs for additional financial support from the gov’t.

It can only accommodate so much without proper funding.

We also understand why 100K+ student-applicants line up for UP yearly.

Aside from having no tuition fee for undergrads, most of UP’s programs are Centers of Excellence and Development. A poor student aspiring to improve their economic status has higher chance of doing so in UP.

Other State Universities and Colleges, if not capable of providing wider range of degree programs for their students, are also underfunded and often neglected by the national government. They too can only accommodate and do so much with such minimal support.

What needs to be done, then?

First, the gov’t must prioritize education over inutile projects and agencies.

As the national university, UP must be properly funded and supported so it could hire more faculty and staff, extend to the regions, & open more classes and slots.

SUCs must be prioritized by the gov’t for quality higher learning in the provinces. With better support, they could generate more Centers of Excellence and Development that can contribute to local, regional, and national development.

Quality education must be in all schools.

In the end, we can’t attain free and quality education if our educ system remains commercialized, colonial, and anti-democratic.

We can’t expect anything from UP or from any SUCs but produce graduates who will more likely become cheap & docile labor and slaves of the corporate.

We must struggle for a national, scientific, and mass-oriented education!

One that’s not only in UP, but can extend from the cities to the regions. One that produces graduates who can contribute to nation building. And one that needs no payment nor justification to be accessed.

Free and quality education for all!

#FreeEducationForAll

Ang dapat lang na hindi mawala ay ang UP CATS🥰

📷: Cats of UP Diliman - Facebook

Hi again, sorry I can’t answer most of the qrts. I can see comments such as “UPCA/T is still necessary to uphold academic excellence in UP” or “Paano if may mga tamad at pabigat na pumasok sa UP”.

That’s the entire point of our call for free and quality education.

Saan ba nagmumula ang academic excellence? It shouldn’t only be based on the number of published papers, number of successful graduates. In the most important analysis, it must be based on how we produce graduates who can put the values of UP to practice for national development.

Also, saan ba nagmumula ang disinterest ng karamihang estudyante na mag-aral and become intellectual elites? Hindi ba dahil bulok na rin ang education system natin in the first place?

We’re forced to go to school because we have to find jobs later, or else hindi makakaahon.

Unless we want to gatekeep UP and see UPCA/T as our pride rather than a tool that limits thousands of students from accessing quality education, then we may not be looking at how education should be in the first place.

Education must serve the masses, hence, it’s for the masses.

Saw this shared caption from my Facebook post. Summed it up through a life story.

The state failed us.