While public schools all throughout the country face the perennial problem of a lack of classrooms and teachers, UP Cebu yesterday saw an abundance of space and probably less cranky staff members in the CSO and the OSA on enrollment day.
Having failed in yesterday's quest for a watering hole (both Tableya and Turtle's Nest were closed), i found myself being led back through the familiar path from Bread and Butter to the UP gates and discovered the unhappy enrollment scene. I admit it is easy for me to say, now that i don't have to face long enrollment lines, but i would rather have long lines and cranky staff than have a large portion of the youth population uneducated.
Wasn't a wonder why freshman jokes are rare nowadays in the UP Campus, as subjects for a laugh were almost absent.
If one does not avail of the loop-holed STFAP, you pay a thousand pesos for a unit. Normal semestral load consists of 18. Do the math.
Mind you, it used to be just 200 a unit.
Eventually i got tired of looking out for what little there is of the fresh batch trickling in through the gates and settled for more familiar faces, canteen food and a couple of smokes.
As with public elementary and high schools, in this morning's paper, LapuLapu City School Superintendent Leonilo Oliva says it's better to have crowded classrooms than more shifts in classes.
The ones at the back of the classroom are as good as drop outs.
Both crowded classrooms and tuitition fee increases are giving birth to a new breed of youth.
Welcome to the world, Generation Drop Out.
