DepEd: Order avoiding relationships between teachers, students doesn’t violate right to free speech

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday denied claims that the order mandating its personnel to avoid relationships and communication with learners outside of the school setting violates the right to free speech.

In a press conference, DepEd spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa said Department Order (DO) 49, a set of policies recently released to promote professionalism in the delivery of basic education programs, is only a reiteration of the Code to Conduct for civil servants, which includes public school teachers.

“DO 49 seeks to, number one, depoliticize ‘yung DepEd, number two…seeks to promote professionalism within our ranks. So hindi lang teachers ‘yan, pati rin po DepEd personnel,” he said.

“Sa aming pananaw (in our view), there is no infringement of any basic rights such as freedom of expression, freedom of speech, specifically with telling them not to go to politicians para po maiparating ‘yung kanilang concerns (to express their concerns),” he added.

Poa was referring to a policy of the DO which states that employees should “refrain from requesting or obtaining support or endorsement from any third party in the hiring, transfer, promotion, removal, or any other personnel movement.”

They should also “raise issues and concerns regarding basic education via formal and appropriate DepEd channels, either directly to the Office of the Secretary or through the concerned Assistant Secretary or Undersecretary, without resorting to any political or third-party intervention or accommodation.”

The DO, however, raised concerns among several groups, with House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro of ACT party-list on Friday, saying it was tantamount to violating the freedom of speech of teachers and school personnel.

She mentioned that Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and Republic Act 7836 or the Philippine Teachers Professionalization Act of 1994 are in place to guide teachers on how they should conduct themselves.

As to the use of social media for communication purposes, Poa said that it is not considered “outside of school setting” as long as class matters are being discussed.

“Ano ba ang gusto nating madiscourage dito? ‘Yung nagiging very personal na ‘yung relationship between the teacher and the learner. I don't think that's unnatural…because there has to be a line, that’s why we’re promoting professionalism,” he said.

(We want to discourage the teachers and learners from getting into a very personal relationship.)

“There has to be a line between the teacher and the learner, but we're not discouraging the use of social media for classroom instruction and that's why the word or the phrase ‘outside the school setting’ must be emphasized,” he added.

Poa also said that there is no order for teachers to unfollow or unfriend their students on social media yet.—AOL, GMA Integrated News