Press Release
July 27, 2008

Deped backs Loren bill raising penalty for parents who don't send
kids to school

Sen. Loren Legarda has welcomed the support of the Department of Education (Deped) for a Senate bill that seeks to categorically penalize parents who refuse to send their children to school.

Under the bill authored by Legarda herself, parents or guardians who neglect their children of school age by not giving them compulsory elementary education face up to six months in prison and a fine of up to P100,000.

Senate Bill 924 proposes to reinforce the penal provisions with respect to delinquent parents, including those who abandon their children or force them to engage in activities that tend to corrupt or degrade them.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus earlier said the Deped is absolutely supportive of the bill, and urged Congress to pass the measure posthaste.

Cagayan City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez introduced the counterpart House bill.

"There is no question children who are out of school are extremely vulnerable to the worst forms of abuse and exploitation, including trafficking," Legarda lamented.

"Congress is duty-bound to find ways to drive them to school, and to keep them in school. This includes commanding parents, under pain of tougher penalties, to send their children to school," Legarda added.

An estimated 11.6 million school-age children and youth remain unschooled, according to Lapus.

He said Deped statistics show that of the 11.6 million who are not in school, some 2.2 million are six to 11 years old, while 3.4 million are 12 to 15 years old. Older children make up the rest.

The unschooled children, Lapus said, are "either in the streets or engaged in high-risk, low-paying jobs."

The National Statistical Coordination Board previously reported that one in six school-age children is being deprived of education, and warned that the number is rising steadily.

The board said the percentage of children enrolled in elementary school declined to 83 percent in the last school year from 90 percent five years ago.

The numbers are even worse for secondary education, with 59 percent, although the rate has been fixed for the last five years.

Legarda also stressed the need for Congress to constantly build up the public school system with adequate facilities and staff to accommodate the growing number of children driven out of private institutions as a result of rising tuition.

News Latest News Feed