Short answer. In principle yes. The Code penalises parents who neglect their children by not giving them the education which their station in life requires and their financial condition permits. Both qualifiers are part of the offence, so inability to pay is written into the provision rather than argued around it.
What the law says
The same penalty shall be imposed upon the parents who shall neglect their children by not giving them the education which their station in life requires and financial condition permits.
Revised Penal Code, Article 277 — Abandonment Of Minor By Custodian. Read the full provision →
The provision exists, and it is directed at parents
Tucked into the article on abandonment of a minor is this: the same penalty shall be imposed upon the parents who shall neglect their children by not giving them the education which their station in life requires and financial condition permits. It is a criminal provision, not an exhortation, and it is aimed at parents specifically rather than at anyone caring for a child. The first limb of the same article deals with a custodian who hands a minor over to somebody else; this limb deals with parents who keep the child and fail him in a different way.
Two qualifiers, and they do most of the limiting
The duty is not stated in the abstract. What is required is the education which the family's station in life requires and which their financial condition permits. Both conditions have to be satisfied before the failure is punishable, which means poverty is not a defence pleaded against the provision — it is the absence of an element of it. A family that genuinely cannot afford schooling is not within the words at all. The measure is relative to the household's own circumstances, not to any national standard of what children should receive.
Neglect is more than a gap or a bad year
The verb is neglect, which imports a failure of duty rather than a difficulty. A child kept out of school while a parent was ill, while the family moved, or during a stretch when money ran out is not in the same position as a child whose schooling was simply never attended to by parents with the means to attend to it. Because the provision is written in relative terms, what is being compared is the parents' capacity against what they in fact did, over a period, and that comparison is evidentiary rather than obvious.
This is rarely the route a real complaint takes
Anyone worried about a child in this situation should know that separate legislation on child welfare and protection, and the remedies available in family proceedings, are the more usual vehicles, and they can act faster and reach further than a criminal charge under this article. If a complaint has been made against you under this provision, the material that matters is documentary: proof of household income and expenses, enrolment and attendance records, and anything showing what was attempted and why it failed. Take it to counsel rather than explaining the family's finances informally.
Related provisions
- Revised Penal Code, Article 276 — Abandoning A Minor
- Revised Penal Code, Article 277 — Abandonment Of Minor By Custodian