Kindergarten entrant age is no small matter

ON April 1, 2016, seventy-nine Kidapawan farmers were unjustly arrested and detained. But did you know that at about the same time, seventy-nine kindergarten pupils of Ateneo de Davao University were barred from enrolment by DepEd Region XI despite being admitted by the Ateneo? According to DepEd, the pupils did not meet June 1, 2016 as provided for under D.O. No. 5 series of 2016. I then wrote a position paper to DepEd on behalf of Ateneo and other schools similarly situated. We received a - dersecretary Dina Ocampo where she stated that the age cut-off under D.O. No. 5 applies strictly to the public school system and that private schools which implement their own curriculum are given the latitude to adopt its admission the learner entering kindergarten recommends that reliable forms of assessment be performed by the school to ensure that the learner is capable to meet the expectations of the next grade level.’

A few weeks later, a school in Baguio City encountered the same problem. I then wrote a letter to the DepEd Schools Division Superintendent and attached the letter of Usec Ocampo. Although there was no formal response, I was told by the school principal that DepEd eventually allowed the enrollment of their kindergarten pupils because of my timely intervention.

This eventually set the precedent for all private schools offering kindergarten. And so the problem was resolved. Or so we thought.

At the start of schoolyear 2017-

Joseph Noel M. Estrada 2018, again, I have received numerous requests for legal assistance from private schools offering kindergarten who are having the same problem—their kindergarten learners are not recognized under the DepEd LIS. And since these schools are situated in different regions, I wrote a letter to the respective DepEd regional directors and cited the case of Ateneo de Davao University and the response of then DepEd Undersecretary Dina Ocampo. But DepEd insisted that the age cutoff applies to kinder pupils in the private schools and that the letter of then Usec. Ocampo binds only Ateneo de Davao University and St. Louis Center in Baguio City. Worse, even kindergarten pupils who are below the cut-off age from these two schools who were admitted at also being denied enrollment in the DepEd LIS.

More and more schools have come forward appealing to their respective DepEd regional directors to recognize the enrollment of their kindergarten students who of the school year but nonetheless have passed the school’s competency assessment. But the regional directors could not give a uniform explanation for the denial of enrolment under the LIS.

DepEd’s basis

Finally, on December 11, 2017, Lorna Dino, the current DepEd undersecretary for curriculum and instruction, issued DM learners who have undergone early education experiences (i.e. nursery, preschool) and have demonstrated capacity to be in Kindergarten but until end of August, they shall still comply with the age requirement of 5 years old (June 1 until end of

Is Usec Dino trying to tell us that despite meeting the competency requirements of the private school, the pupil who did not turn 5 years old between June to August 2017 and currently attending kinder next year and have to either repeat kinder or sit out next school year magpahinogmuna?

Usec Dino in her memorandum cited her basis for DepEd’s denial of enrollment which is an excerpt from a book she had read written by Whitebread and Coltman (2015) start formal school too early may content and performance standards across all developmental domains, and experience unnecessary stress that may lead to long-term negative effects such as poor self-esteem, loss of motivation to learn and mental

This reasoning is unacceptable for two reasons: One is that it is misplaced, and two, it is unacceptable. If we take the reasoning of Usec Dino seriously, this means that a Kinder pupil who celebrated his 5th birthday between June 1, 2017 to August 30, 2017 would be more motivated, would have a stress-free life, and would have good self-esteem and all fell on dates between September 1, 2017 to December 30, 2017 should expect to be miserable in life and would have mental problems. Hence, they don’t deserve to be enrolled in kindergarten. Not yet. Not even because they passed the assessment and admission standards of the school like Ateneo de Davao University.

Reasonable regulation

With all due respect, Usec Dino cannot unilaterally set aside the right of private schools to establish their own admission policies, including their reliable assessment mechanisms in ensuring that the learner is competent to enroll in kindergarten. Our Constitution recognizes the complementary role of private schools and thus mandates its reasonable regulation. Even the DepEd’s Revised Manual of Regulations for Private Schools in Basic Education expressly recognizes the rights of school administrators to determine who to admit as students, based on fair, reasonable and equitable admission and academic requirements. DepEd’s refusal to enroll the subject students on the basis solely of an excerpt from a book by foreign authors is definitely not an exercise of reasonable regulation. It smacks of arbitrariness and lack of due process.

Child-rearing right of parents

More importantly, such refusal of DepEd goes against the child-rearing right of parents, or the right of parents to direct the education of