DEPED ORDERED NOT TO IMPOSE UNIFORM REQUIREMENT ON PUPILS

By Marvin Sy
The Philippine Star, June 3, 2008, p. 2


INTERNET PHOTO

President Arroyo directed the Department of Education to exempt students in public elementary and secondary schools from wearing uniforms in order to improve attendance.

In a speech delivered at Ibajay, Aklan where she headed the inauguration of the Ibajay bridge, the President noted that a majority of six-year-old children do not go to school as first grade students.

Poverty is the main reason for the poor attendance in school and is also the same factor that leads to dropouts in the elementary and high school levels.

“Our most important human infrastructure is spending on our education and I just spoke to (Education) Secretary Jesli Lapus earlier because we want to make sure that our children go to school, especially our six-year-olds because our statistics show that majority of (them) stay at home. They don’t go to school and we want our six-year-olds to go to school,” the President said.

The President said that she wanted to reduce the burden on the parents who send their children to school, and the requirement of wearing uniforms is an added cost.

“We want to make it as small a burden as possible on the parents who send their children to school. So I’ve just given instructions to Secretary Lapus that just like in the United States and many parts of Europe, we should not require the school children to wear uniforms anymore,” the President said.

Acting on the directive of President Arroyo, Lapus issued yesterday an order for student uniforms to be a non-requirement in public elementary and secondary schools this school year.

In DepEd Order No. 45, Lapus instructed that the wearing of school uniform “shall not be required in public schools.”

“To increase school participation of all school-aged children, it is important to remove any and all obstacles, particularly financial, to their enrollment in public schools,” Lapus said. Since school uniforms serve the security purpose of identification in public schools, Lapus ordered public schools to provide identification cards to all their students (With Rainier Allan Ronda).


RELATED LINK

DepEd Order No. 45 s. 2008, Student Uniforms Not Required in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools. Internet. Available URL: http://www.deped.gov.ph/cpanel/uploads/issuanceImg/DO%20No.%2045,%20s.%202008.pdf