STUDENTS FROM different universities and youth groups in Metro Manila came together to celebrate the International Students’ Day by marching from the Ateneo de Manila University to the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman last Saturday, November 17. The participants of the parade expressed their support for the passage of House Bill No. 2190, otherwise known as the Students’ Rights and Welfare (Straw) Bill, in Congress.

Aside from students from UP and the Ateneo, students from De La Salle University, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, the University of Santo Tomas and the University of the East also joined in the march. Members of Akbayan Youth, World Youth Alliance (WYA) and the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines were also present.

The celebration was a first in the Philippines. Mickey Eva, president of the Coalition for Students’ Rights and Welfare and currently vice chair of UP Alyansa, said, “We organized the event to call for [participation in the fight] for students’ rights and welfare since it is international students’ day. The focus is, of course, students’ rights. We wanted to use this day to capture the attention or the imagination of the entire country to focus its laws and policies also on students’ rights.”

The 23-year-old bill pushes for the legislation of a magna carta for all students in all Philippine schools, colleges and universities.

Ateneo Sanggunian President Gio Alejo said, “We’re lucky as Ateneans because we’re able to participate in a process like this, but other schools do not have the same privileges.” He raised the concern of many students, such as tuition fee increase and the insufficient budget for student councils and other activities.

Ninian Sumadia, a member of Akbayan Youth, also mentioned security and safety on campus as among the problems that need to be addressed. She cited the alarming violations of students’ rights and welfare, such as rape cases and frat-related violence in many schools across the country.

Meanwhile, WYA Regional Director Christine Violago brought up issues concerning the poor quality of facilities and education in many schools. “For WYA, the human person is the greatest resource of the country, [which] is why we need to invest on education,” she said.

When asked what the ordinary student can do to help this campaign for students’ rights and welfare, Eva said, “You could simply share for the education of students’ rights in your university; you can report cases of Straw violations with the NYC [National Youth Coalition] and you can also be as educated as other advocates when it comes to students’ rights.”

Once implemented, the Straw Bill is geared to address the concerns many students across the country are currently facing. Heart Diño, chairperson of the UP Diliman student council, said, “We want to continually spark the change as students… What we want now is to really mobilize and capacitate the students [to fight] for their rights.”