SENATOR Chistopher “Bong” Go filed a bill that will waive college entrance examination fees for the poor and intelligent high school students.

Go filed Senate Bill 1708 or the proposed Free College Entrance Examinations Act of 2023 that will provide benefits to underprivileged graduating high school students and those students who graduated with academic distinction.

“Let us help widen the opportunities of our underprivileged youth especially the best and the brightest,” he said.

“Ang edukasyon ang tanging puhunan natin sa mundong ito. Ito rin ang susi sa mas maginhawang kinabukasan. Bigyan natin ng oportunidad at insentibo ang ating kabataan na mag-aral ng mabuti para mailayo sila sa masasamang bisyo at bilang kapalit na rin sa paghihirap ng kanilang mga magulang na pag-aralin sila,” he added.

In the explanatory note of the measure, Go noted that the 1987 Constitution provides that the State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and to take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all.

He lamented, however, that through the years, the cost of quality education, even in the application stage, continues to rise, making it seemingly unaffordable to underprivileged students given their limited financial capacity.

Under the measure, a student will become eligible as beneficiary if he or she is a natural-born Filipino citizen and a graduating high school student or a high school graduate who belongs to the academic top ten of their graduating class and seeks to be admitted to a private higher education institution within the country.

The student must also belong to a family whose combined income falls below the poverty threshold as determined by the National Economic and Development Authority and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

With the measure, Go is hoping for the expansion and further democratization of the access to quality college education in private higher education institutions.

“The exemption from the imposition of entrance examination fees is one such mechanism that shall give adequate assistance and equal opportunity to these students to pursue their dreams of obtaining a college education,” he said.