On January 24 the Department of Education (DepEd) officially started its Early Registration Program for School Year 2015-2016. The theme for this year’s early registration campaign is “Makapag-aral ay Karapatan Mo, Magpalista.” Unlike in previous years where the DepEd’s Early Registration Program only lasts for a day, DepEd Order (DO) 1, Series of 2015 states that this “massive advocacy campaign to find children and youth in the communities not currently enrolled and bring them back to school shall be undertaken from January 24 to February 27, 2015.”
So why do we say in our theme that education is a ‘karapatan’ or a right?
It is a right because it is declared as such under our 1987 Constitution. Thus, Article 14, Section 1 of our Constitution provides that the “State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels of education and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all.”
Corollary to this is the constitutional provision that the State shall “establish and maintain a system of free public education in the elementary and high-school levels.
Without limiting the natural right of parents to rear their children, elementary education is compulsory for all children of school age.”
In law school, the common question asked when these constitutional provisions on education are discussed is the following: “Is there a duty then for private schools to subsidize the education of students and/or to charge lower tuition?” I remember my constitutional professor answering this question, quoting Fr. Joaquin G. Bernas, S.J., in this manner: “[T]he duty of which the Constitution speaks is a state duty, not the duty of private schools.
Private schools must maintain high academic standards and relevant educational policy but are also entitled to commensurate compensation for the service they render. Private schools generally can give students only the kind of service which is commensurate to what they pay for.”
Is DepEd then fulfilling its mandate as provided under our Constitution?
Without discussing the various programs implemented by our Education Secretary Bro. Armin A. Luistro, FSC, to achieve free quality basic education for all, this early registration campaign of DepEd in all public elementary and secondary schools seeks, among others, to achieve “universal participation and completion of the cycle.”
The aforementioned DO states the following specific objectives: “To ensure that all 5-year-old children are enrolled in kinder; to locate, identify and enroll out of school children and youth; and to understand the barriers to access to education and identify local interventions to bring them to school and ensure that they do not drop out.”
With Education Undersecretary for Programs Dina Ocampo at the helm, I believe that these objectives (and the activities spelled out in the enclosure of the DO) shall be achieved and that DepEd shall remain faithful to its constitutional mandate to enhance “the right of all citizens to quality education” and “to make such education accessible to all.”
Also on said date, I was interviewed by Pia Morato in her education program at dzRJ 810 AM to discuss not only about the DepEd’s Early Registration Program but also about our previous column on the Career Executive Service (CES), its relation to the DepEd and how it may be further strengthened. I told Morato that there are pending bills in the House of Representatives and the Senate to specifically promote and enhance the CES system. I said that the National Union of Career Executive Service Officers and the Philippine Educators Association of CESOs and Eligibles Inc. are spearheading now efforts to lobby for the immediate passage of these “CES bills.” I will try to discuss in the latter part of our succeeding columns some of the leadership programs of our Career Executive Service Board, in addition to our education-related topics, to support our advocacy for professionalism and a strong CES system to ensure the continuity of reforms, integrity and accountability in the DepEd (in particular) and the entire government bureaucracy (in general).
Lawyer Toni Umali is the current assistant secretary for Legal and Legislative Affairs of the DepEd. He is licensed to practice law not only in the Philippines, but also in the State of California and some Federal Courts in the United States after passing the California State Bar Examinations in 2004. He has served as a legal consultant to several legislators and local chief executives. As education assistant secretary, he was instrumental in the passage of the K to 12 law and the issuance of its implementing rules and regulations. He is also the alternate spokesman of the DepEd.
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I heard Asec talking about this in the radio. Tama lang itong Early Registration program para maibalik sa eskuwela ang mga kabataan natin.