Charges vs. school officials stem from lack of orientation on duties

An official of the Department of Education said lack of orientation of school officials on their duties and responsibilities has resulted in criminal and administrative charges filed against them, which in effect downgrades the quality of education in the country.

DepEd Undersecretary for legal affairs Franklin Sunga said school superintendents and school officials face criminal and administrative charges because they are not well oriented with their duties and responsibilities.

Speaking before hundreds of school officials at the national convention of school superintendents here in Cebu City last Thursday, Sunga reminded school heads and superintendents to know their functions, perform their functions properly and abide by the provisions of Republic Act 4670 or the Magna Carta for Public School teachers. The convention was held on January 17 to 19 at the Cebu Parklane International Hotel.

For example, he said that while a district supervisor is powerful for the fact that he is the one hiring the school principal and teachers, it is not his duty to impose sanctions on erring principals and teachers because he is not the disciplining authority.

Sunga said that if a school superintendent receives a complaint against one of his teachers, he should refer it right away to the regional director. He emphasized that there are only two officials who can act as disciplining authority, the Secretary of the DepEd and the regional director.

Once the regional director receives the complaint, Sunga said that the former can create an investigating team composed of a school superintendent and other school officials, who would conduct a probe within 30 days and come up with recommendation based on the result of the investigation.

Likewise, Sunga said that many school principals are also facing charges because their functions go beyond their real training. "A school head has now two functions, instructural level and administrator and manager of the school. He is the administrator and manager of all the personnel and all physical facilities of the school."

He emphasized that a principal is trained to be a teacher and not as school administrator or manager.

"The problem is principals are receiving less resources than their school need. The result, they resort to raising funds and later get charged of illegal collection," Sunga said, adding that principals are also accused of mismanagement, malversation of funds and estafa.

"Criminal and administrative charges filed against them (school officials) have resulted in deterioration of education because they concentrate on the complaints filed against them and not on academic excellence," Sunga stressed.

He added that a number of cases filed against school officials have prompted him to draft the Education Code to be implemented in all levels, which is now under review by the Secretary of Education.

Sunga has also proposed to amend Republic Act 9155 or the Framework of Governance for Basic Education and Republic Act 4670 to include guidelines for private school teachers. - Wenna A. Berondo