By Merlina Hernando-Malipot For the Federation of Associations of Private Schools and Administrators (FAPSA), the recent clarification of the DepEd that a financial need is not a “mandatory requirement” for students who wish to enter public schools is akin to waging a war against them. “If the private schools require financial clearance that means the students could not be given credentials and if there are no credentials from the private schools, how can DepEd ascertain the level completed from the previous school?” asked FAPSA President Eleazardo Kasilag. “If the student is accepted in the public school, in what level shall he be enrolled in? Would it be enough if the parents say, ‘my son is for grade six!” Kasilag decried. “Does DepEd have to take the parents’ word at its face value without credentials? What is the basis of his enrollment?” he added. FAPSA is reacting to the recent Manila Bulletin article citing DepEd’s stand that a financial clearance is not a requirement for enrollment in public schools. Kasilag noted that with the statement of DepEd “completely negating the financial clearance from the private schools, we begin to feel the unsympathetic stance of DepEd to the sordid financial operation of the private schools in the country.” “I really thought that we are partners of public school are we now taken as foe or competitors?” Kasilag asked. “While the public schools get billions of pesos in funds, FAPSA schools rely on tuition fee,” he added. Kasilag continued that when private schools request for tuition and other fees hike, they need an approval from DepEd as well. “And now, transferring students from us are even motivated to disregard whatever account they have with the private schools? Where would that sweeping statement take us?” he asked. The clarification of DepEd that financial clearance is not a mandatory requirement for public schools, Kasilag said, is like having DepEd declare war with the private schools. “Kawawa naman kami, wala kaming kalaban laban if this continue, siguro baka dapat magsara na ang iba sa amin,” he added. Wrong signal Believing that it sends a “wrong signal,” private schools advocates also urged the DepEd to clarify the need for a financial clearance for learners from private schools who wish to transfer to public schools. Lawyer and education advocate Atty. Joseph Noel Estrada, said that statement from a DepEd official quoted in the Manila Bulletin article that “no financial clearance is required for students transferring to public schools” may not be accurate. Estrada said that the DepEd Order No. 40 s. of 2010, as amended, otherwise known as the Manual of Regulations for Private Schools in Basic Education expressly provides under Section 127, cites that “a pupil or student enrolled in one school is entitled to transfer to another school, provided he has no unsettled obligations with the school he was enrolled in.” “While financial clearance is not listed as one of the requirements for enrolment or transfer, the student upon enrolment would need his or her transfer credentials which include his or her permanent school records in the school last attended like form 137 and form 138, and certificate of eligibility signed by the school head,” Estrada said. Estrada explained that the “school last attended by the student is actually authorized by the DepEd to withhold these credentials on account of unpaid financial obligations.” The Manual of Regulations, he added, “expressly provides” that under Section 128, “the release of the transfer credentials of any pupil or student may be withheld for reasons of suspension, expulsion, or non-payment of financial obligations or property responsibility of the pupil or student to the school. The credentials shall be released as soon as the obligation shall have been settled.” While the same Manual allows provisional enrolment of students without transfer credentials, Estrada said that “this is only reserved to those with justifiable circumstances, not to be abused by everyone.” Thus, he asked that if the “DepEd accepts students with unpaid financial obligations from private schools, is it not violating its own Manual?” In the previous years, Estrada has received “numerous concerns from private schools with students and parents disappearing, leaving behind unpaid financial obligations without a word, only to find out that these students eventually graduate in the public school system.” He added that “it is perplexing how this happen because the private school last attended actually withhold their permanent academic records because of the unpaid obligations.” Estrada noted that for private schools that rely solely on tuition payments, “the defaults and even undue delays in the settlement of financial obligations cause serious problems on teacher salaries, maintaining basic school facilities, and even payment of its own utility bills.” He also noted that while the "Constitution mandates the State to take appropriate steps to make education accessible" to everyone, “it also recognizes the complementary roles of public and private institutions in the entire education system, and that reasonable regulation and supervision shall be exercised.”