THE PROCESS OF TRANSFERRING AND ACCEPTING STUDENTS IN PHILIPPINE SCHOOLS

PETER PHILIP M. PEREZ

MA in Education Major in Administration and Supervision
Divine Word College of San Jose


I. INTRODUCTION:

Transferring of one student from one school to the other is a common phenomenon
both in the local and international setting, and, there are set of rules which govern the conduct
or procedure of accepting and releasing the students from wards of schools as mentioned in
various literatures.

In a normal setting, credentials such as Honorable Dismissal, Progress Report Card, Form
137, and Certificate of Good Moral character are to be presented to the school which one is
intending to be transferred to as well as other requirements like entrance examination as
deemed by the school (Sarmiento, 2011 pages 620-621). However, there are also some
instances of twist in the conduct of the said endeavor.

What merits transfer of students from one school to the other can be, any of the
following as mentioned in various memorandums released by the Department of Education:
Displacement of families arising out of natural and man-made calamities (D.O. No. 62, s, 1995),
Change of residence (D.O. No. 19, s. 1996) among others.

II. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

As said above, there are twist on the procedure or conduct of accepting and releasing
the students from the schools wards; this, in many instances causes problems on the part of the
recipient schools. For instance, D.O. No. 62, s, 1995which by virtue of non-revocation and non-
amendment still has bearing to date, has mentioned:

Regional Directors, through the Schools Division Superintendents, are authorized to
enroll all elementary school pupils and secondary school students affected by natural
and man-made calamities in any public/private educational institution throughout the
country without the immediate need for usual, required documents such as: Form 138 E
(Pupils Report Card) and Form 137 E (Pupils Permanent Record) for elementary and
Form 138 A (Students Report Card), Form 137 A (Students Permanent Record) and
certificate of good moral character for secondary school students.

All school heads are enjoined to take necessary steps to facilitate the entrance
and integration of these pupils/ students in any public or private school of their choice.

Note that, in cases of force majeure, such as storms, earthquakes among others; records of
students may be destroyed leaving the recipient schools on the verge of trouble in
replicating/duplicating the said documents.

III. OBJECTIVES:
o To avoid the hassle of replicating/duplicating destroyed credentials of transferees
caused by force majeure.
o To abide by the Departments memorandum regarding transferees without sacrificing
the well-being of the schools records.

IV. ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION/DISCUSSION:

1. Establish a Division/National Data base of students

This may be a national website which can be accessed only by the staff of the
Department of Education in varying degree depending on ones position or
designation.
It may help in the retrieval of pertinent information such as: the current level of
the student (third year, grade 7 etc.), grades on every grading period of the
student, among others.
This has to be updated by the staff concerned religiously and will be monitored
by the higher ranking officials.
Its importance also lies on the fact that there will be a unified system of
information which will result to better and holistic evaluation of every areas of
concern.

2. Amend the existing laws regarding the acceptance and releasing of transfer students.

V. RECOMMENDATION:

While it is tempting to suggest that we have to amend existing laws and regulations as
regards to the act of accepting and releasing students, it is also given that a law is is a law; thus,
all of us must abide by it. Therefore, a systematic procedure like alternative course of action
number 1 given above is of help in ensuring the proper functioning of affairs within the
department, most especially to the topic in stress.






VI. REFERENCES:

Sarmiento (2011) pages 620-621. Compendium of Educational Legislation for Private Basic
Education. Fund for Assistance for Private Education.

D.O. No. 62, s, 1995. Authority to Admit All Students from the Lahar affected Schools.
Deparment of Education

D.O. No. 19, s. 1996. Transfer of Filipino Students from Abroad to thePhilippine Schools.