Purpose and clarification
- The order issues a clarification in light of queries on holding educational field trips by public schools.
- The clarification addresses concerns arising from the policy of no collection of fees during enrolment.
- The order clarifies that no DepEd circular bans the holding of educational field trips by public schools.
- The order states that educational field trips are intended to supplement classroom instruction.
Coverage: field trips and suitable destinations
- Educational field trips may supplement classroom instruction.
- Educational field trips depend on the places visited.
- Suitable destinations include cultural, historical, and scientific sites such as the National Museum, Museo Pambata, provincial/local museums, Science Centrum, and planetarium.
- Other suitable destinations include zoological/botanical gardens, historical sites/shrines, and model manufacturing or technological firms, including scientific sites.
Student access, testing, and substitutes
- Field trips involve monetary costs that may be unaffordable to students from poor families who therefore cannot join.
- Teachers must refrain from conducting tests based on field trips for which some students cannot afford to join.
- If tests are held based on field trips, students who were unable to join must not be penalized.
- Penalized-free students must be given special tests or assignments as substitutes for not joining the field trip.
Funding assistance and cost reduction
- School heads are encouraged to tap external sources to help fund educational field trips.
- External funding sources include local government units, civic organizations, and PTCAs.
- School heads are directed to use external support to arrange for group or student discounts to reduce the burden on students.
Parental consent and school stewardship
- Those responsible for organizing educational field trips must secure the consent of parents for their children to join the field trip.
- Children are treated as under the stewardship of the school for purposes of requiring parental consent.
Fees, restrictions, and anti-income rule
- Educational field trips must never be used to generate income for the school.
- Educational field trips must never be used to generate income for school officials or teachers organizing them.
- Students may be charged only for actual costs for:
- transportation,
- entrance fees, and
- related expenses.
Implementation and dissemination
- Immediate and wide dissemination of the clarification is directed.