Short answer. No. Under the Civil Code, when a school offers religious instruction as part of the curriculum, it must be optional, taught at the choice of the parent or guardian, not compulsory. This sits inside the government's broader, aspirational duty to promote the full growth of every child through schools, health centers, child-protection councils, and juvenile courts.
What the law says
The government promotes the full growth of the faculties of every child.
Civil Code, Article 359 — Government Support for Children. Read the full provision →
What the law says
Schools in every barrio, municipality and city where optional religious instruction shall be taught as part of the curriculum at the option of the parent or guardian
Civil Code, Article 359 — Government Support for Children. Read the full provision →
The government's general duty toward children
Article 359 opens with a broad policy statement: "The government promotes the full growth of the faculties of every child." Everything that follows in the article is framed as an application of that duty, a list of institutions the government is meant to establish, whenever practicable, to support children's development, health, and welfare, rather than a rigid checklist of guaranteed services.
Optional religious instruction in public schools
The clearest consumer-facing rule in the article concerns schools. It calls for "schools in every barrio, municipality and city where optional religious instruction shall be taught as part of the curriculum at the option of the parent or guardian." In other words, if a public school includes religious instruction in its curriculum, attendance is not automatic. The parent or guardian decides whether their child takes part, and a school cannot compel a child to attend against that choice. This provision binds public elementary and secondary schools and the teachers and administrators who run them; it says nothing about private or parochial schools, which set their own curriculum requirements outside Article 359, nor about colleges and universities, which the article does not address at all.
The other institutions the article contemplates
Beyond schools, Article 359 envisions puericulture and similar centers for child and maternal health, Councils for the Protection of Children, and juvenile courts. All of these are qualified by the phrase "whenever possible," which signals a policy goal for the government to work toward rather than a specific, individually enforceable entitlement that a parent can demand on a given date.
What this means for parents
If a school insists that a child attend religious instruction over a parent's or guardian's objection, that runs against the choice this article reserves to the family. Documenting a request for exemption in writing, and keeping a copy, can help if a disagreement with a school administrator continues or needs to be raised with a division office later. Parents who encounter this issue, or who have other concerns about how a public school or local government unit is applying child-welfare programs, may want to raise it directly with school administrators or seek legal advice.
Related provisions
- Civil Code, Article 359 — Government Support for Children
- Civil Code, Article 358 — Parents Must Uphold These
- Civil Code, Article 361 — Juvenile Courts to Be Established