To: Bureau Directors
Regional Directors
Schools Superintendents
Heads of Private Schools, Colleges and Universities

1. Complaints have been received in this Office of the pernicious practice of some teachers in public and private schools who advise academically weak pupils to drop out before the end of the school year. According to these complaints, some teachers employ different strategies to induce students to leave school in order to have 100% promotion at the close of the school year, thus obtain high efficiency ratings. One means employed is to abruptly reduce children’s grades and/or directly suggest that it would be better if the child stops schooling rather than get a failing grade. These practices are unfair and dehumanizing, much more so if the child has been in the school for two or more years. This is against our thrust of reducing dropouts and increasing survival rate.
2. In line with the Constitutional mandate that education shall be made available to all, and to enable each child to acquire at least an elementary, and if possible secondary education, this Office suggests that:
   1. all schools exert efforts to help all pupils succeed in each grade by strengthening its guidance and instructional services;
   2. teachers be made to understand that once a student is accepted in a school, he becomes the school’s responsibility and that all educational provisions should be offered to enable him to develop his potentials to the maximum; and
   3. teachers exhaust all remedial measures before deciding to fail a student.
3. Regional Directors are enjoined to see to it that teachers/schools strictly observe the policy on pupil promotion in school. Teachers/schools not implementing said policy should be dealt with accordingly.
4. It is requested that the aforementioned undesirable school practices be immediately stopped.
5. Immediate dissemination of the contents of this Order is requested.

(SGD.) LOURDES R. QUISUMBING
Secretary

Reference: None
Allotment: 1-2-4–(M.O. 1-87)

To be indicated in the Perpetual – Index under the following subjects:
COMPLAINTS
Course of Study, ELEMENTARY
Course of Study, SECONDARY
OFICIALS
POLICY
PROMOTIONS
PUPILS
SCHOOLS
TEACHERS

DO_s1989_034