Was Ateneo ‘bully’ excluded or expelled? DepEd wants to know

Education Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla today said the Ateneo de Manila University should clarify whether dismissal of the student in the viral bullying video meant exclusion or expulsion.

Sevilla cited a Deped order that defined exclusion as dropping a student from the school rolls and immediately issuing transfer credentials.

Expulsion, on the other hand, means a student cannot be accepted into any public or private school in the Philippines. This penalty requires the prior approval of the Deped secretary.

Sevilla told GMA News that if the penalty was for exclusion, the student may apply for transfer to other schools. But schools “can reject, especially private schools because they have qualifications for admission - academic, psycho-social fitness, moral, etc,” Sevilla explained.

Sevilla said "admission of students to public schools also require submission of certificate of good moral character."

In the absence of such, or if the originating school doesn’t want to issue said certificate, the public school head must have an agreement with the student and parents concerned on certain parameters that need to be met, either academic, moral, etc.

Also, the public “school may offer alternative modes of delivering basic education such as home schooling.”

“Deped cannot offer anything to him pag expulsion. They can do homeschooling on their own but Deped will not be able to issue credentials for him,” Sevilla added. —NB, GMA News