They might not be worth your trouble, but they could cause trouble if they sue for libel. One of the questions you would have to answer would be why you did not sue them or even bring them to the attention of DepEd, instead you accuse them of such here in a public forum.

Are compulsory field trip in private schools legal? My children school is implementing compulsory payment in field trips and many other extra curricular activities like high school proms, retreats etc... Is this legal? What hurt me most is that I have to pay this field trips and other activities even my children did not participate in these activities because I'm broke at the time they announce the coming activities. I felt robbed but I had no choice but to pay these before the end of the school year or else they will not release my children's report card or sign clearances. Please help us me on this. My children's school name is Jesus The Rock Of All Ages Christian School in San Pedro, Laguna.

To Sec. Luistro & DEPED offials,

Kindly act on Rep. Raymond Palatino bill 2759. There are many schools who are conducting field trips this season maybe due to coming Holiday seasons. Whatever motives they have the bottonline is the field trips are not educational in nature. Kindly create memorandum immediately to hold or cancelled all field trips activities this year. The timing is so suspicious and we hope DEPED will act on it asap. Even if other parents agree for fear of low marking on the grades of their child. This practice does not promote fairness and creates disparity for those who will not be able to join on field trip. Pls. txt me if you are able to act on this appeal 09324888189. Thank you very much for immediate reply.

(03-16-2009 12:28 PM)admin Wrote:  Hello geff70 and welcome to EduPhil.org.

Educational field trips are covered by DepEd Order No. 52, s. 2003, which is supplemental to DECS Order No. 56, s. 2001 and DepEd Order No. 51, s. 2002. DepEd Order No. 56, s. 2003, was reiterated in DepEd Order No. 87, s. 2003.

DepEd Order No. 56, s. 2001 explicitly stated,

Quote:3. Recognizing, however that such trips involve certain monetary costs which may be unaffordable to students coming from poor families and who therefore are not able to join, teachers should refrain from conducting tests based on these field trips. Should it be decided that tests will be held based on these field trips, students who were unable to join such trips should not be penalized; they shall be given special tests or assignments as substitutes for not joining the field trip.

The intent of this provision is clear: the student has an option not to join the field trip, for whatever the reason, including, but possibly not limited to, the monetary costs. Take note, however, that DepEd Order No. 56, s. 2001 was in reference to public schools.

In DepEd Order No. 52, s. 2003, there was an implicit inclusion of private schools, as indicated in the header of the order, which now includes "Heads, Public and Private Elementary and Secondary School Principals". In this order, it is stated that

Quote:f. As much as possible, field trips should not put an additional financial burden on the parents. Possible sponsors or other sources can be tapped for the purpose.

I am attaching DepEd Order No. 52, s. 2003 (which also includes the other two orders) in this post, so that you can look at the full text of the three orders yourself.

As far as I can discern from the two orders, it is obvious that a school, whether public or private, could not impose as compulsory to all students the collection of a fee for outings and field trips. That is the intent of the paragraph 3 in DepEd Order No. 56, s. 2001 (explicitly covers only public schools) and paragraph f in DepEd Order No. 52, s. 2003 (implicitly covers public and private schools). I was not able to locate any relevant jurisprudence on this though; what I would suggest is you talk to your school principal or school head, and show him a printout of these orders (plus my interpretation, if you want). If he/she refuses to bulge, you can raise the issue to the next higher authority, either to the school board (in a private school) or the District Head (for public schools).

Please do tell us the result of your actions, so that we can document cases like this, and we can guide others in the future. Thank you very much.

(03-16-2009 10:36 AM)geff70 Wrote:  Hey guys ! I just want to know if it legal or valid to all school to impose compulsary to all student to join the field trips? and if a cetain student is unable to join the said field trip for finacial reason, does the school have the right to collect the said contribution (amount) for field trip during obtaining clearance for graduation or recognitions. the school registrar dont want to release the card of my child as this employee- rehena collado claimed its compulsary for all students to pay regardless if they joined or not.

(edited title - admin)