A Quezon City representative on Sunday said the “no tuition, no exam” rule is “highly discriminatory against children from families that are struggling to survive, including households run by single parents.”

QC Fourth District Representative Marvin Rillo said there are families in cost-of-living crisis, “which occasionally prevents them from paying in a timely manner the tuition fees of their children in private schools.”

The lawmaker filed House Bill 7584 or the No Permit, No Exam Prohibition Act which has gone to third and final reading last week while its counterpart in the Senate was approved on 20. The bill is awaiting approval by a bicameral conference committee.

Under the bill, students with unpaid tuition fees would be allowed to take their periodic and final examinations, if their parents or guardians execute a promissory note to settle their financial obligations.

To facilitate collection of unpaid fees, the measure would allow schools to hold back the issuance of transfer credentials to students with unsettled liabilities, or to refuse their acceptance in the next enrollment period.

Private schools that fail to comply with the “no permit, no exam” ban, would face administrative penalties.

Rillo, meanwhile, disputed claims that the bill would adversely affect private schools that depend on tuition fees to sustain their operations.