REACTION PAPER

School Laws and

Legislations
Cebu Technological University
Carmen, Cebu Campus
Presented by: Ms. Eda Q. Abueva
Presented to: Dr. Abdon

14
ACADEMIC FREEDOM

Sec. 5[2]

Under the constitution, all institutions of higher learning, both public and private universities and
colleges, above high school level, shall enjoy academic freedom.

MEANING OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM

1. As a right of an individual teacher.

The term has been defined as the freedom of the teacher or research worker in higher institutions
of learning to investigate and discuss the problems of his science and to express his conclusions
whether through publication or in the instruction of students, without interference from political or
ecclesiastical authority, or from the administrative officials of the institution in which he is employed,
unless his methods are found by qualified bodies of his own profession to be clearly incompetent or
contrary to professional ethics.

2. As a right of an individual student.

Academic freedom is enjoyed as well by the student. The bill of rights guarantees his right to write
and speak freely about his school, its policies and programs, to form or join student associations, and
to engage in activities promotive of student welfare (Article III, Secs. 4, 8). The right of the student is
subject to reasonable rules and regulations of the educational institution which also enjoys academic
freedom.

3. As a right of an educational institution.

a. Who may teach
b. . What may be taught
c. How it shall be taught
d. Who may be admitted to study

GUARANTEE NOT ACADEMIC LICENSE

Article III, Secs. 4, 8

Academic Freedom does not mean academic license. Inasmuch as it is but a special form of freedom of
expression, academic freedom must necessarily be subject to the well-defined limitations on freedom
of speech, of expression, or of the press, freedom of association, and the right of assembly.

RIGHT OF EVERY CITIZEN TO SELECT A PROFESSION OR COURSE OF

STUDY

Sec. 5[3]
The constitution now explicitly recognizes the right of every citizen to select a profession or course of
study. This right is subject, however, to fair, reasonable of the school. Such requirements may be
prescribed or regulated by law and equitable admission and academic requirements.

RIGHT OF TEACHERS TO PROFESSIONAL ADVANCEMENT

1. To help strengthen the educational system, MASTER TEACHER PLAN.

2. A teacher may work obtaining a master of arts degree without leaving his/her station and at
government subsidized cost under the home study for teachers (HST) program.

3. Letter of Instruction No. 552 directs the DECS and Civil Service Commission to conduct a
continuing development program.

4. The DECS implemented an integrated scholarship program for public elementary and secondary school
teachers and field officials.

5. The teachers are no longer considered just part and parcel of the so-called rank-and-file of
the bureaucracy-they make a profession.

6. Another law sets up Centers of Excellence in Teacher Education, creating a Teacher Education Council
for the purpose.

RIGHT OF NON-TEACHING ACADEMIC AND NON-ACADEMIC PERSONNEL

Article XIII, Sec. 3

The constitution expressly declared that they shall enjoy the protection of the state. While such right is
already covered by the provision under Social Justice mandating the State to afford full protection to
labor a separate guarantee is necessary to stress that the special concern of the Constitution is not
confined to the welfare of the teachers alone.

STATE TO ASSIGN THE HIGHEST BUDGETARY PRIORITY TO EDUCATION

Sec. 5[5]

The Constitution has restored education as a primary concern of the state in the provision which
requires the state to assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching will
attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and
other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment.
Academic Freedom

Academic freedom is widely misunderstood. Many teachers think that, with

academic freedom, they can pretty much say anything they want to say. That is not
true at all. Academic freedom is a specifically limited right of certain persons. To
get to the real meaning of academic freedom, we have to return to the original
reason for it.

According to The Idea of a University, published in 1854, serves as a good

starting point. A University, taken in its bare idea, has this object and this mission:
it contemplates neither moral impression nor mechanical production; it professes to
exercise the mind neither in art nor in duty; its function is intellectual culture. It
educates the intellect to reason well in all matters, to reach out towards truth, and
to grasp it.

The key word in this passage is truth. Academic freedom exists in order for
humanity to discover the truth. Moreover, academic freedom makes sense only
within the larger context of a universitys search for truth.

The world cannot progress unless there is a group of human beings allowed
to question conventional knowledge without persecution. This freedom to think and
to express what they think is, however, not an absolute right of these human
beings, but is limited by what the law says.

What does the law say?

Since individual academic freedom is a very complex issue, let me devote

future entries to this first provision. Today let me discuss only the second provision,
which reads: The enjoyment of academic freedom requires the autonomy of
institutions of higher education. Autonomy is that degree of self-governance
necessary for effective decision-making by institutions of higher education in
relation to their academic work, standards, management and related activities.
Self-governance, however, must be consistent with systems of public
accountability, especially in respect of funding provided by the State. Given the
substantial public investments made in higher education, an appropriate balance
has to be struck between institutional autonomy and accountability. While there is
no single model, institutional arrangements should be fair, just and equitable, and
as transparent and participatory as possible.

The second provision is about institutional academic freedom.

It is institutional academic freedom that is enshrined in our own 1987

Constitution. Section 5 of Article 14 on Education, Science and Technology, Culture
and Sports, states clearly and simply, that academic freedom shall be enjoyed in
all institutions of higher learning.

It is important to note that our Constitution, grants academic freedom only

to institutions of higher learning (that is, colleges and universities), rather than to
all schools, such as elementary or high schools. Since individual academic freedom
is a consequence of institutional academic freedom, we can immediately see that
elementary and high school teachers and students do not enjoy academic freedom.

What is institutional academic freedom? Our own Supreme Court has

defined it: We have held time and again that the University has the academic
freedom to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be
taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study. (G.R. No.
132860, April 3, 2001, University of the Philippines, et al., vs. Civil Service
Commission)

That is what institutional academic freedom is and that is all it is. A

university can hire and fire teachers, can formulate and restrict curricula and
syllabi, can specify teaching methods, and can accept or expel students all
without any interference from any outside entity, not even government.

Immediately, we see why our Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is

regarded by many, if not most university administrators as misled. Although it was
conceived to be developmental (that means providing universities with
opportunities to be world-class), CHED has often actually been regulatory,
something against the Constitution itself.

It is not just a question of leadership, although the current leadership in

CHED is undeniably unlawful. The problems of higher education will not be solved
by a mere change of government managers. It is a question of CHED doing what it
is not supposed to do. CHED is not supposed to infringe on the academic freedom
of higher education institutions.

While institutional academic freedom is enshrined in the Constitution,

individual academic freedom is not. Individual teachers have academic freedom
only to the extent that it is given to them by their institutions.

Certain institutions, grant practically absolute academic freedom to its

teachers. Other institutions, however, particularly private ones, limit the academic
freedom of their teachers. Teachers in these institutions cannot choose their
textbooks, design their own syllabi different from departmental syllabi, not wear
uniforms, not observe teaching or consultation hours, and whatever else the
administrators tell them not to do.

From a management point of view, this view of academic freedom makes

perfect sense. After all, if a particular teacher does not like to follow the regulations
of a school, he or she can always go to another school. This is the same reasoning
that is behind the opinion of the Supreme Court about institutional academic
freedom. If a student does not like the way a school is run, he or she can always
enroll in another school.

The right to education is not denied any student, nor is freedom of speech
denied any teacher by this limited view of academic freedom. After all, nobody,
student or teacher, has the right to be in any particular institution. There is always
some school somewhere (such as UP) which will allow students or teachers more
academic freedom than is allowed in other schools. If someone will argue that he or
she is not intelligent enough to be either a student or a teacher in UP, then the
answer is, tough. In fact, academic freedom is granted only to very few, highly
intelligent individuals.

The schools administration, then, has the right to hire or fire teachers.
Teachers cannot claim academic freedom as a defense against being fired.

Fortunately, because we are a bit more protective of the rights of workers,

we need due process to fire a teacher in the Philippines. Nevertheless, after such
due process, a teacher can still be fired for not following school regulations, even if
these regulations are not academic (such as wearing a uniform, not smoking on
campus, or observing office hours).

If this sounds like a brief for school administrators faced with disciplining
unruly faculty members that is because it is. I am tired of hearing teachers use the
term academic freedom every time they feel harassed by administrators.

There are, however, certain teachers that can legitimately claim academic
freedom when they defy school administrators ordering them to teach in a certain
way. Such teachers are not many, but they still constitute a distinct class of
intellectuals that have to be exempted from school rules, not just operational
procedures, but even academic policies (such as adhering to a prescribed syllabus
or textbook, or in the case of a sectarian school, teaching according to the tenets of
a particular religion).

Who are, without any doubt, entitled to academic freedom?

These are the privileged individual scholars entitled to teach whatever they
want in whatever way they want. No school can dictate to them what to teach or
how to teach. In a sense, the academic freedom of a school ends where the
academic freedom of these scholars begin.

Unfortunately for the human race, there are very few of these scholars. Not
everyone teaching even in a prestigious university has the qualifications needed to
join this elite group.

Why are doctorates required? Because only the doctorate is the final,
objective proof that a scholar has mastered everything that has to be mastered in a
field. A doctoral dissertation includes what is known as a review of the literature.
This is proof that the scholar has read everything previously written about his area
of specialization. The dissertation advances knowledge in the field. By writing a
doctoral dissertation, the scholar proves that she or he has done something no one
else has done before. She or he has pushed the frontiers of knowledge.

Why is publishing in a peer-reviewed journal required? Because such

publication is objective proof that other scholars in the field, especially those in
other universities and in other countries, respect the professor. Acceptance by
peers is crucial in determining whether one should be allowed to challenge received
wisdom. After the dissertation, only publication in a peer-reviewed journal serves as
a gauge of originality and validity of thought.

Why is adherence to non-academic school policies required? I personally

do not believe that academically free professors should follow school policies,
because such policies are made by people that, by definition, are the intellectual
inferiors of such professors. But the law is unfortunately on the side of
administrators.

My own opinion is that academic freedom for those individuals

satisfying the criteria cannot be restricted by the institution, except for
non-academic matters (such as punctuality, attendance, submission of
grades on time, wearing of uniforms). Inside the classroom, academically
free professors should be able to do whatever they want, as long as it is in
the area of their expertise.

Why? Because that is the whole point of academic freedom. There

should be individuals allowed to think unthinkable thoughts, teach
unteachable things, and publish unpublishable ideas. These are the
individuals that really are at the cutting edge of knowledge. Without them,
the human race is doomed. Without them, we will stagnate, unable to
produce ideas that change the world.
ASSIGNMENT
QUESTION:
1. Is a parents signature permitting his/her child to join an excursion or field trip
tantamount to a waiver? Suppose something happen to the student?
ANSWER:
In this case, the parents signature doesnt tantamount to a
waiver. It is not a so-called waiver. Instead, this signature
signifies only as allowing or permitting his/her child to join the
field trip or an excursion and not the permission to be injured.
QUESTION:
2. Would the school authority be liable for any accident that happens to each student in
the school bus or because of traffic accidents to and from the school?
ANSWER:
I can explain this simply. If the school bus belongs to the
school and something happened to the students, the school is
liable for all cause. And if that bus belongs to a private company
or that bus belongs outside school.
QUESTION:
3. Suppose that in student evaluation or teacher is consistently graded in a manner
leading to the conclusion that a teacher is inefficient, would this be ground for
dismissing the student?
ANSWER:
If the testimony of the student is convincing, acceptable
and with due process then the answer is YES.
QUESTION:
4. Suppose something happens to the student on the way from the school to the police
precinct, what is the school liability?

ANSWER:
If the student go home because its his/her off already or
classes has adjourn and something happened to him/her, the
school has no liability for the reason that the student is already
off from school and he/she is already under police custody.
QUESTION:
5. Suppose during a class a student leaves without a teachers permission then he meets
an accident outside the school campus, is the teacher and the school liable?
ANSWER:
In this situation, the students age will be the deciding
factor. It has two options. First, if the age of student is minor the
law requires that the school post guards so that students cant
go out during class hours. Secondly, if the student is of age, then
the school is not liable for any compliance for the schools
negligence will be for failure to post guards for the security of
students who are considered minors.
QUESTION:
6. How does each of the given concept as indicated become a part in the global
directioning of education, especially among the deprived depressed and underserved
you as follow:
a. UNESCO
b. UNICEF
ANSWER:
a. UNESCO implements its activities through the five programme
areas of Education, Natural Sciences, Social and Human
Sciences, Culture, and Communication and Information
Education. UNESCO supports research in comparative
education and provides expertise and foster partnerships to
strengthen national educational leadership and the capacity of
countries to offer quality education for all.
b. UNICEF Philippines works to achieve quality education for all
children in the country, particularly those marginalized
communities. It helps to ensure that children are ready for
school by supporting early childhood care and development
centers. UNICEF provides packages for day care centers
including play and learning materials, health and nutrition
supplies and hygiene kits. In association with the Department
of Education Philippines, UNICEF has established a network of
Child-Friendly primary schools and is now piloting the
 programmed in high schools. This includes training for
teachers and principals on child-friendly teaching methods.
QUESTION:
7. How does each of the following legislations be elucidated or illustrated as to the
respective setting of directions within the scope of each of the respective mandate
trust and goals as cited:
a. 1987 Philippine Constitution
b. Education Act 1982
c. Republic Act. No. 7722
ANSWER:
a. The explicit mandate of the 1987 Philippine Constitution
enjoins the State to assure the security of tenure of workers in
employment. This constitutional provision abolishes the
almost absolute right of the employer under the Termination
Pay Law, Republic Act 1987 to terminate at any time the
services of his employees even without just cause.
(Department of Labor Staff Committee on labor code)
b. The Education Act of 1982 was the primary work that gave
rise to succeeding government platforms for education. The
said law has set the precedent for the notion that schools
even those sponsored by the state should generate their own
income and become self-sustaining. An example would be
Section 39 of Batas Pambansa 232 which encourages schools
to pursue income-generating projects, and Section 33 and 53
which likewise encourages assistance and support from
private entities. Now, more than ever, there resounds a call
not only to repeal Batas Pambansa 232, but to reorient the
Philippine education system towards being nationalist,
scientific, and mass-oriented- an education system that seeks
to increase knowledge instead of profit, an education system
that teaches Filipinos the value of nationalization instead of
driving them to foreign lands to work.
The vestiges of a bygone era have come to haunt us, yet we
should not cower in fear. To move forward towards the
 reorientation of our education system, we must first
extinguish the ghosts of the turbulent past.
c. REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7722
AN ACT CREATING THE COMMISSION ON HIGHER
EDUCATION, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
The Philippines in Congress assembled:
SEC. 3. Creation of the Commission on Higher Education. - In
pursuance of the abovementioned policies, the Commission on
Higher Education is hereby created, hereinafter referred to as
the Commission. The Commission shall be independent and
separate from the Department of Education, Culture and
Sports (DECS), and attached to the Office of the President for
administrative purposes only. Its coverage shall be both public
and private institutions of higher education as well as degree-
granting programs in all post-secondary educational
institutions, public and private.

MARCH 8, 2014