Some people say that the real challenge in life begins once you already enter college. But they're wrong, because the real challenge starts with the admission. Before you can become a full-fledged “iskolar ng bayan,” you have to brave the odds and compete for slots. A system that hasn't gone away, but has instead only gotten worse over the years.

Every year, instead of excitement, every Filipino student who is about to enter college, feels apprehension over whether they'll get into their desired course and university. And their anxiety doesn't end with waiting for the admission results, because just passing doesn't guarantee they'll get into the college program they want. This is the result of a system that lacks the budget, support, and sympathy for every Filipino student who dreamed of going to college.

According to data presented by the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), 501,704 senior high school graduates from families under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) failed to transition into higher education due to a lack of immediate financial support and implementation delays in government college subsidies. This is nothing new for other Filipino students who aren't part of the 4Ps but are experiencing the same rotten system.

In the current enrollment of incoming “iskolar ng bayan” in the PUP, it clearly reveals the glaring deficiencies of the government in supporting public universities. Iskolar ng Bayan are entering the university to learn how to build the nation, not to be broken by its broken systems.

On the other hand, people always say, 'that’s just how it is, get used to it.' But it shouldn't be this difficult for students even before they enter college. There are students who are already in line even though their enrollment is still scheduled for the day after next—students who sleep on the sidewalks and skip meals just to be at the front of the queue and ensure they won't run out of slots. This is not what a college should look like.

Iskolar ng Bayan should be fighting for societal progress in the classrooms, not fighting for survival on the streets before they even get a student number. Until we stop treating higher education as a scarce privilege to be fought over and start funding it as a fundamental right, the system will continue to break the very hands meant to build this nation.

The Frontman