Teacher Liability

School year 2015-2016 has just started. Once again, the teacher
assumes a very important unique position that makes her interact
with children and their parents.

This relationship entails legal

implications which are unique to the teaching profession. It would

be for the teachers best interests to apprise herself of these
issues and how to deal with them should they arise and better still
how to prevent them from coming up in the first place.
The principle behind teacher liability is in loco parentis or in
the place of a parent. The Family Code provides that teachers
shall have special parental authority and responsibility over the
pupil or student while under their supervision, instruction or
custody. Teachers have a duty of care towards their students that
must be faithfully kept to remain true with the parents
expectation that when their children are in school, they are being
taught well and looked after with care and concern.
When the duty of care expected of a teacher for the child in her
custody and care is betrayed, then the teacher is liable for
negligence.

Under the law, everyone is duty-bound to observe

diligence. A person becomes liable for her negligence when her

lack of care causes damage to another.

This is so even if the

person did not maliciously or willfully intend harm to happen.

This legal concept is termed quasi-delict. Article 276 of the Civil

Code provides that whoever by act or omission causes damage

to another, there being fault or negligence, is obliged to pay for
the damage done. Such fault or negligence , if there is no preexisting contractual relations between the parties, is called a
quasi-delict.

The

obligation

imposed

by

Article

276

is

demandable not only for ones own acts or omissions, but also for
those of persons for whom one is responsible (Article 2180, Civil
Code). This is where the accountability of teachers comes in.
How does the teacher avoid liability when confronted with a
complaint for negligence? He has to prove that he observed due
diligence.

Due diligence, as provided by the last paragraph of

Article 2180, means that he observed all the diligence of a good

father of a family to prevent damage.
DepEd Order No. 40, s. 2012 or the DepEd Child Protection Policy,
quoting relevant laws, provides for the responsibilities of school
personnel which includes teachers, and foremost in the list of
responsibilities is duty to exercise special parental authority and
responsibility over the child while under their supervision,
instruction and custody. An area of concern along this duty is the
exercise of the teacher of his authority to discipline the young
entrusted under his care.

Teachers are reminded that to

administer corporal punishment or physical punishment is a crime

and they are not exempted from criminal liability for bodily harm
inflicted on pupils and students as punishment for misconduct.

Rather, it is their duty to practice positive and non-violent

discipline, as may be required under the circumstances and in no
case shall corporal punishment be inflicted upon the children.
Child abuse, under DeEd Order No. 40, s. 2012, is the
maltreatment of a child, whether habitual or not, which includes
any of the following:
1. psychological or physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual
abuse and emotional maltreatment;
2. any act by deeds or words which debases, degrades or
demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a
human being;
3.

unreasonable deprivation of the childs basic needs for

survival, such as food and shelter; or

4.

failure to immediately give medical treatment to an

injured child resulting in serious impairment of his or her

growth and development or in the childs permanent
incapacity or death.
It is important that a teacher be made aware of the many forms
that child abuse can be committed so as to make the necessary
and appropriate action or actions when confronted with a
situation.
With all of the duties and responsibilities of teachers which
become the bases for their liability when violated or not observed,
the teaching profession can be said to be fraught with worries but

from all these concerns, the satisfaction that teachers are forming
a positive and encouraging learning environment where students
and pupils are safe and learning is paramount.
Anyway, even without the legal responsibilities, a true teacher will
always care and have concern over her students and pupils and
the impositions of the law simply become redundancies.