Our Children's Special Parents

OUR CHILDREN’S SPECIAL PARENTS - THE SCHOOLS

Do you know that we don’t only send our children to school to get their education?

Yes. The school has more to offer to our children over and above a formal education, or a temporary shelter as we parents pursue our respective careers.Lest we do not know, the school is our children’s special parents.

How is this so? Under Article ___ of the Family Code, there are three (3) types of parental authority. The natural parents, who are either the legitimate or illegitimate parents, are vested with direct parental authority. The grandparents, older brother or sister, aunties and uncles, in this order, are vested with subsidiary parental authority. And the schools, vocational centers, training institutions and their heads and teachers or professors are vested with special parental authority.As special parents, the schools therefore have the obligation to ensure that their students do not only learn their three (3) Rs (reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic) or the modern education that they offer, but also achieve balanced moral standards, good health and safety of their persons.

As a whole, the law thus requires schools to pursue and promote the best interest of our children as young human persons.What is the liability of the school if something bad happens to our children or our children are the ones who caused damages or injuries to others?Under Article 2180 of the Civil Code, the school shall be held liable for all injuries, damages and civil liabilities that their students may have incurred so long as they are under the school’s custody.

The liability of the school is solidary, which means it is always a party to the case filed by the injured party.The definition of “under school’s custody” however varies according to the circumstances of each case.In the case of Filamer Christian Institute vs. Hon. Intermediate Appellate Court et. Al , G.R. No. 75112, 17 August 1992, the school was made liable for the serious physical injuries brought by a working student who drove the school vehicle and sideswiped a pedestrian. Despite the working student was not the authorized driver of the school, he was considered as under the school‘s custody.

The school is also held liable for a student who inflicts serious physical injuries to his classmate inside school premises during school hours. See Ciriaco L. Mercado vs. Court of Appeals, Manuel Quisumbing, Jr., et al., G.R. No. L-14862, May 30, 1960).In one case, the school was also held liable for a student who caused damage to private property while the students were in a school-authorized field activity.

In contrast, there are instances that the school is not held liable if the court finds that it has exercised its duty of extra-ordinary diligence.In the case of St. Francis High School vs. CA, G.R. No. 82465, 25 February 1991, when a student who came to a beach outing with his parents’ consent, and he was drowned trying to save a drowning teacher, the school was not held liable as there was no negligence found on the part of the school.

In one isolated case, when a student killed his classmate during semestral break, the school was not held liable as the court ruled that the school had no custody of the students during semestral break and there was no negligence on the school. See Jose S. Amadora et al vs. CA, G.R. No. L-47745, 15 April 1988. In the case of PSBA et al vs. CA et al, G. R. No. 84698, 04 February 1992, when a student was stabbed to death by intruders while inside the school’s premises, the school was not held liable as the court ruled that schools are not insurers of all risks.The moral of these case stories then is we, as parents, must exercise our utmost discretion in choosing the best school to send our children, not for its name or fame, but for its record of handling students as special parents.

So every morning as we send our children to school, we can have peace of mind that the school will take care of our children as we do as parents, if not better.As our children board the school bus packed with their school bag, daily allowance and lunch or snack pack, and as we bid them goodbye with a loving hug and kiss, we have a security as we in effect relinquish our parental authority. For we then entrust the rest of the day to the school, its teachers and school head to fill in our shoes.

With these law and jurisprudence, we hope that our schools in turn will exercise extra-ordinary diligence in taking care of their students “under their custody“, within or outside of their premises.Otherwise, in case the school fails to exercise its parental authority willingly or unwittingly, the law will hold it liable for whatever damages that may affect or involve our children.