Abad prohibits collection of certification fees in HS

Education Secretary Florencio Abad has ordered a stop to the collection of fees for the certification and verification of school records of high school graduates.

The certification and verification of school records is a requirement for Philippine-based school graduates who wish to study or work abroad. The education department used to collect P30 for the certification.

The certification is issued through its regional offices. An applicant should submit all the requirements to the DepEd regional office where his school is located.

Requirements include original and certified true copies of the transcript of records and high school diploma, certifications of graduation from the school principal and the division superintendent.

Earlier, the Department of Education reminded officials and Parent-Teacher Associations in public schools that they are not allowed to collect school fees as a pre-requisite for enrollment of pupils and students.

Education Secretary Florencio Abad in an order said payment of contributions shall not be made a requirement for admission or of the release of report cards and test results or for clearance purposes in case of transfer of students to other schools.

"Violators of this rule will be placed under preventive suspension," he said.

Abad said that pursuant to the Constitutional mandate for free public education as well as existing laws, students in public elementary and secondary schools have a right to enroll without being compelled to pay any amount as requirement for enrollment.

The DepED order states that public elementary and secondary school students should be enrolled without paying the amounts, often described as charitable and fund-raising fees.

Contributions for the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Philippine National Red Cross, and the Anti-Tuberculosis fund drive may be collected at any time during the year including the enrollment period provided that a student has already enrolled and that these contributions are voluntary.

For schools that publish school papers, the collection of school publication fees, which should be voluntary and set by the individual elementary and secondary school, should not exceed to P 50 per student in elementary public school and P 75 per student for secondary schools.

For schools with active student organizations recognized by DepEd,, the PTA may undertake the collection of student organization fee which should be voluntary and should not exceed to P 50 per student.

The PTA may be authorized to collect financial contributions from its members to enable it to implement programs and projects for the benefit of the school in which it operates but should be agreed upon by the members during their assembly.

With this the PTA/PTCA of each school should submit to the principal a financial report on how the past school year's collections were utilized before the end of July wherein failure to submit reports will be the cause for prohibiting the organization from collecting its fees or contributions in the subsequent school year.