Can a teacher or school administrator physically punish my child while exercising special parental authority?

A flat prohibition

The sentence leaves no room to negotiate: in no case shall the school administrator, teacher of individual engaged in child care exercising special parental authority inflict corporal punishment upon the child. In no case is the whole point. It is not a rule that yields to the seriousness of what the child did, to school policy, to custom, or to a parent who has told the school that hitting is acceptable. The people named are exactly those a child is handed over to during the day, which is why the Code addresses them specifically.

The contrast the article draws

The prohibition sits immediately after a grant: the person exercising substitute parental authority shall have the same authority over the person of the child as the parents. So the Code gives substitutes the full measure of authority and then, in the next breath, closes one particular door on those exercising special parental authority in schools and child-care settings. The lesson is that authority over a child and a licence to inflict physical punishment are not the same thing, and that standing in a parent's place does not carry the latter with it.

Parental discipline is bounded too

Parents sometimes read this article as marking out a freedom they retain. It is narrower than that. Article 220 lists among the parent's rights and duties to impose discipline on them as may be required under the circumstances — a standard, not a blank cheque, and one measured by what the circumstances actually require. Where discipline is genuinely beyond what a parent can manage, Article 223 provides the lawful route: a petition to the proper court for an order providing for disciplinary measures, in a hearing where the child is heard and assisted by counsel.

If it has already happened

Record it while it is recent. Photograph any injury with the date, get the child seen by a doctor, and write down what the child said and when, together with the names of anyone who saw it. Put your complaint to the school in writing rather than only in a meeting, and keep the reply. Those documents are what any later step — within the school, with the authorities, or in court — will be built on, and they are far harder to assemble weeks afterwards.

Cases citing this provision

These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.

• Caravan Travel and Tours International, Inc. vs. Ermilinda R. Abejar, G.R. No. 170631, February 10, 2016 — read the decision on LawPhil →
• Felina Rosaldes vs. People of the Philippines, G.R. No. 173988, October 8, 2014 — read the decision on LawPhil →

Related provisions

• Family Code, Article 220 — Rights and Duties of Parents Over the Child
• Family Code, Article 223 — Court-Ordered Disciplinary Measures