KABATAAN Party list on Saturday slammed the implementation of the ‘no vaccination, no scholarship’ policy in a higher educational institution in Caloocan City.

The youth group stressed President Duterte’s marching orders to restrict the mobility of those unvaccinated are now directly hampering students’ right to accessible and quality education amid the pandemic.

It cited the case of St. Claire College located in Caloocan City after the school administration issued guidelines for the release of the usually delayed Tertiary Education Subsidy grants from the Commission on Higher Education.

The guidelines stated only vaccinated grantees are allowed to process their government scholarship.

The student-scholars are also required to present their vaccination cards upon making the transaction.

“Ito na ang inaabot ng repressive and discriminatory restrictions ng gobyerno na nakabatay sa bakuna. Gobyerno mismo ni Duterte ang nag-approve ng RA 11525 na nagsasabing hindi dapat maging harang ang bakuna sa edukasyon, trabaho at iba pang serbisyo. Pero binabalewala na naman niya ang batas at nagpataw ng mapaniil na ‘no vax, no this no that’ policies,” the group stressed.

“Marami na nga ang maysakit, wala pang ayuda, ‘di pa makuha ang scholarship. Kontra-mahirap at anti-estudyante ang pinasimulang patakaran ni Duterte,” it added.

Moreover, the group further stressed the guidelines lay down by the school borders on unreasonable, arbitrary, and repressive grounds upon which the school could cancel and return to CHED the subsidy reserved to a student.

“Some of these include disrespect, creating trouble, disobeying established rules, destroying the good name and reputation of the school especially in social media, or any act that may disrupt the disbursement or disturb the peace in the campus, among others,” the group stated. “This contributes to anti-democratic policies that can lead to grave abuse of discretion, inevitably threatening the students’ constitutional right to express.”

“Umaapela tayo sa pamunuan ng paaralan: huwag na tayong gumaya sa Duterte admin na nagpapahirap ng mga kababayang naghahangad lamang na makapag-aral o makapag-trabaho,” Kabataan Party list added.