Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Officer-in-Charge Dr. J. Prospero E. De Vera III clarified on Friday, August 17, 2018, that the Return Service System (RSS) or civic engagement activities for students availing Free Higher Education under Republic Act 10931 must not supplant the workforce of the university or college and must have definite learning outcomes.

Dr. De Vera, who is also the chairperson of the Unified Student Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education (UniFAST) Governing Board, explained the rationale behind the RSS during CHED-UniFAST’s “Symposium of State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and CHED-Recognized Local Universities and Colleges (LUCs) on Civic Engagement Activities for Students” at the Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Quezon City.

 

The UniFAST Governing Board, created by Republic Act 10687 or the “Unified Financial Assistance System for Tertiary Education Act,” is the inter-agency body spearheading the implementation of Republic Act 10931 or the “Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.”

“We want to make sure that our students experience the same return service, and it is being done not to punish them, not to impose an additional burden to their education, but to enhance their civic consciousness, enhance their capabilities, make them better citizens, make them love their community better, and help this country,” De Vera said.

 

The RSS component is in accordance with Republic Act 10687, Section 12 that states that the UniFAST Governing Board “may, prior to the grant of Scholarship or Student Loan, or other modalities of StuFAP, impose reasonable terms and conditions of availment.” While Section 15 (f) duly states that the UniFAST Governing Board shall “provide general guidelines for the drawing up of contracts with the student Beneficiaries specifying the rights and obligations of the parties that may include a service clause or such other stipulations of cost recovery the Board may deem in the best interest of the public and consistent with, or responsive to, national, social, economic, and human resources development plans, subject to Section 12…”

“We want the officials of public higher education institutions (HEIs) to talk to each other to find common ground on how you look at return service and agree on what will be the basic principles when you talk about it, including the activities that will be incorporated (in the program), so that all our students who are availing the Free Higher Education will have the same direction,” De Vera added.

More than 250 public higher education leaders and administrators attended the event, which served as a venue to discuss various initiatives and programs on civic engagement.  Officials from Bicol University, Mariano Marcos State University, University of the Philippines System, University of Southeastern Philippines, West Visayas State University, and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa presented their best practices on RSS.

Representatives from the Philippine Red Cross, Quezon City Government Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, and the University of the Philippines Vanguard Incorporated also acquainted the participants with their modules and training programs that higher education institutions may adopt or incorporate in their respective programs.

#