TO INSTITUTIONALIZE the protection of students’s welfare, Rep. Manuel Antonio Zubiri filed House Bill 9359 or the proposed Magna Carta of Students Rights and Welfare Act of 2021.

Zubiri said there is no standard or law that upholds the rights of students.

“The bill seeks to ensure and protect the rights and freedoms of students in campuses all over the country, public and private institutions alike, to embody the democractic values on which this nation is founded upon,” he said in his explanatory note.

Zubiri explained that school administrations have powerful authority with regard to disallowing students from exercising their right to organize and enforcing harsh disciplinary action against those who dare speak their mind.

The lawmaker added that it has become the prerogative of schools to enact their own rules and regulations, at times without fully considering the basic rights of their students.