DepEd forms task force to monitor school fees

With the opening of a new school year next month, the Department of Education has created a task force to keep an eye out for any fees collected by public school officials during enrollment.

The task force will be composed of some officials of the Department of Education and some Parents-Teachers Association officials so that they can closely monitor schools this enrollment.

Deped Regional Director Carolino Mordeno said that school officials are prohibited from collecting any fees or donations from students and their parents.

Mordeno said that with the strict implementation of this, he believes that more parents will enroll their children to school.

DepEd Order 19 states that no fees shall be collected from schoolchildren enrolling in pre-school and grades one to four during enrollment period and at any time during the school year.

It also prohibits the collection of any fees from grades five and six students during enrollment period and the first month of the school year.

Mordeno said that despite the issuance of an order from Secretary Jesli Lapus, there have been reports that some public schools continue to collect fees from students and their parents.

Contributions for membership in scouting, Philippine National Red Cross, Anti-TB Fund drive and the Parents, Teachers and Community Association are accepted, provided that the donation is voluntary.

The collection of the contribution may only be done in the second month of the school year as stated in the DepEd order.

Also, the PTCA is not allowed to collect fees until it has presented to the parents and the school administrators a report on how it spent the money collected in the previous year.  — Jasmin R. Uy/BRP