How to Request Form 137 in the Philippines, and What to Do When the School Will Not Release It

Form 137 vs Form 138: What Each One Is

Form 137 is the permanent academic record the school keeps. Form 138 is the report card handed to the student at the end of each school year. You transfer with the first and read grades from the second, and neither substitutes for the other. Confusing the two is the single most common reason a transfer stalls.

• Form 137, now called SF10 (School Form 10, Learner's Permanent Academic Record). A cumulative record built up from the year the child first enrolled: grades by subject and level, the Learner Reference Number (LRN), attendance and promotion history. It is school property. The original is not released to parents; the standard route is school to school.
• Form 138, now called SF9 (Learner's Progress Report Card). Issued to the student at year end, so parents usually already hold one. Receiving schools often use it to grant provisional enrolment while the SF10 is in transit.
• Why two sets of names. The Department of Education renumbered school forms into the SF series years ago, but schools, parents and counter staff still say Form 137 and Form 138 out of habit. Put both names in your request letter and everyone will understand you.
• The one people forget: a Certificate of Good Moral Character, which nearly every Philippine school asks for when accepting a transferee.

If the destination is a Chinese school system rather than another Philippine one, work out the grade mapping before you start collecting paper. See which grade a child from the Philippine system enters back in China.

How to Request Form 137 in the Philippines: The Request Letter Route

The correct route is not a parent walking into the old school to ask. The receiving school issues a formal Request for Form 137 addressed to the previous school's registrar, and the previous school transmits the record. The parent's job is to enable and chase, not to act as courier.

In practice it runs in five steps:

1. Secure enrolment or acceptance at the new school first. Registrars generally will not act on a request that is not backed by a receiving school.
2. Ask the new school's registrar for the formal request letter, which will carry the student's full name, LRN, the grade level and school year last completed, and the new school's complete address.
3. File the letter with the old registrar together with a written parental authorisation, a copy of the parent's ID and a copy of the PSA birth certificate, and ask for a stamped receiving copy on the spot.
4. Settle everything with the old school: tuition balance, library books, uniforms, laboratory deposits. Nothing moves until accounts are clear.
5. Agree how it will be delivered: school mail, courier, or a sealed envelope carried by the parent.

Expect a few working days to two or three weeks. Around the end of the school year and the June enrolment rush it can stretch past a month. Start the day you decide to move the child, not the day the new school asks.

Transfer Student Requirements in the Philippines: Form 138, the Good Moral Character Certificate and the Full Checklist

A transfer is not one document. The standard pack is five: permanent record, report card, good moral character certificate, PSA birth certificate and a clearance showing accounts are settled. Tick this list before your first trip.

• Form 137 / SF10. The permanent academic record, moved school to school.
• Form 138 / SF9. The most recent report card, usually already in your hands.
• Certificate of Good Moral Character, issued by the class adviser or guidance office, normally within a few days.
• PSA birth certificate. Philippine schools generally require the PSA copy rather than a hospital or local civil registry version. See how to obtain PSA documents in the Philippines. Foreign students should also carry passport and visa page copies.
• Clearance. Proof that tuition and borrowed items are settled. Many schools treat this as a precondition for releasing the SF10.
• Immigration status documents. Foreign minors in private schools are often asked for an ACR I-Card or dependent visa papers. See ACR I-Cards for dependent children.
• Recent ID photos and a medical form, the exact requirements varying by school. Ask once, at enrolment.

Moving into an international school usually adds an entrance assessment and interview. Preparation is covered in what Philippine international school entrance tests actually assess, and cost differences in international school fees in the Philippines.

One sequencing tip that saves a wasted trip: collect the good moral character certificate and the clearance on the same visit where you file the Form 137 request. All three are issued by different offices in the same building, they are all quick, and each of them independently blocks enrolment if it is missing. Parents who make three separate visits over three weeks are the ones who end up filing late.

How Student Records Are Physically Transferred: Sealed Envelopes, Couriers and Hand-Carrying

The default is direct transmittal from the old registrar to the new one. If you carry it yourself, it must be a sealed envelope signed or stamped across the flap, and you must not open it. A Form 137 that arrives opened can be refused.

• School to school by mail or courier. Safest in principle, slowest in practice, and painful if it goes missing. Insist on a tracking number and ask the new school to confirm receipt in writing. Domestic shipping options and timings are in sending parcels and documents within the Philippines.
• Hand-carried sealed envelope. Widely accepted provided the old school seals and signs it. Do not open it out of curiosity; that single mistake causes an avoidable round trip.
• Certified true copy first, original later. During busy months schools often release a certified copy or a certification of grades so the child can enrol, with the original following. Acceptable, but pin down a date in writing.
• Scanned copies. Some registrars now email a scan registrar-to-registrar as an interim step. Useful, but the paper original remains the official record, so do not assume a PDF closes the matter.

Keep a full high-resolution scan yourself. If the child transfers again, or needs credential verification years later, that personal copy saves weeks.

The School Won't Release Form 137: A Four-Step Escalation and the Unpaid Tuition Question

Written request, then the principal, then the DepEd Schools Division Office, and only then legal action. Follow that order and most cases resolve at step two. Starting with an argument usually just moves your file to the bottom of the pile.

1. Step one: a written request with a receiving copy. In Philippine school administration, a verbal request effectively did not happen. Write a short formal letter naming the student, the LRN, the documents requested, the purpose and the date needed. Bring two copies and have the registrar sign and date yours. That receiving copy is the evidence every later step rests on.
2. Step two: meet the principal or school director. Be specific. You are not asking for the balance to be waived; you are asking for a date and a list of what you must do first. Very often the file is simply sitting with nobody pushing it.
3. Step three: complain to the DepEd Division Office covering that school. Private schools are supervised by the Department of Education too. Bring your receiving copy, the correspondence trail and any proof of settlement. This step tends to be effective precisely because schools operate under DepEd recognition.
4. Step four: legal remedies, only after the first three are exhausted, and only if the cost and time are proportionate. See how foreigners find a lawyer in the Philippines.

The right mindset is not winning, it is getting the child enrolled on time. At every step ask the same question: what can I do today that lets you give me a document the new school will accept? Many schools that cannot release the original will issue a stamped certification of grades or of prior enrolment, and that is usually enough.

So can a school legally withhold records over an unpaid balance? In the Philippines, private schools withholding credentials pending settlement of financial obligations is long-standing practice grounded in the Manual of Regulations for Private Schools. But withholding is not the same as indefinite inaction, and it does not extinguish the child's right to continue being educated. Knowing that line tells you what to argue and what to concede.

• Concede the balance itself. If the debt is real, negotiate repayment. Instalments, or a partial payment in exchange for release of documents, are common and schools generally accept them. Proposing it yourself works far better than waiting.
• Contest the amount when it is genuinely wrong. Duplicate charges, fees for dropped subjects, miscellaneous items never agreed. Ask for an itemised statement of account in writing and go through it line by line.
• Do not concede a total blackout. At minimum, ask for a letter stating that the student attended a specified grade level and that a balance remains outstanding. Most receiving schools will grant provisional enrolment on that basis.
• Confirm current rules against the latest DepEd issuances, and read the student handbook you were given at enrolment, since individual schools add their own terms.

Where the dispute is really about a conflict with the school rather than money, the complaint chain in handling bullying and complaints in Philippine schools follows the same escalation logic.

The old registrar keeps stalling and repeat visits go nowhere? → school enrollment consultation and coordination

The Old School Has Closed. Where Is the Record Now?

When a school ceases operating, student records are in principle turned over to the DepEd Division Office for that area. Apply there for retrieval rather than visiting an empty campus. Several Chinese families in the Philippines have gone through exactly this, particularly in years when smaller private schools contracted.

• Give the division office the school name, the year it closed, the student's full name and the LRN, and ask for a records search and certification.
• If nobody remembers the LRN, bring old report cards, tuition receipts, uniform photographs, graduation pictures, anything evidencing attendance. In practice these do help.
• Tertiary records sit in the CHED system, not DepEd, so the route is the university registrar or the CHED regional office. Recognition of Philippine qualifications is covered in whether Philippine degrees are recognised back in China.
• In the worst case the division office issues a certification that records are unavailable, and the receiving school places the child by assessment test. The path exists; it is just slow.

There is only one preventive habit worth having: photograph the report card at the end of every school year and ask the school for a certification of grades while you are still a current student. Ten minutes then saves months later.

Using a Philippine Transcript Abroad: The DepEd CAV Authentication Chain

To use Philippine academic records overseas the standard chain is: original from the school, then CAV (Certification, Authentication and Verification) from DepEd, then an apostille from the DFA, then submission with a translation. The order matters; the DFA will normally not accept documents that have not been through the CAV step.

1. Get authenticable originals: a certified copy of the SF10, transcripts, and for graduates the diploma. Make sure the signatory's name and position are legible.
2. CAV from DepEd, which verifies both that the school is a recognised institution and that the student attended. Tertiary records go through CHED instead.
3. DFA apostille. The Philippines is party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so for most destinations consular legalisation is no longer needed. Process detail in Philippine apostille and document authentication.
4. Translation. Receiving institutions usually require a translation prepared and stamped by a qualified translation provider.

Timing and cost: every stage runs in working days and the whole chain commonly takes several weeks. Fees at each stage should be checked against the latest official announcements rather than someone's figures from a few years ago. If the enrolment date abroad is fixed, work backwards and start at least six weeks out.

See also: Philippine College Entrance Exams Explained.

Four Things to Do Two Months Before a Transfer

Move the paperwork forward to the day you decide to transfer rather than the day the new school chases you. That single change removes most transfer emergencies. Four concrete actions.

1. Settle first, ask second. Clear the account and collect the clearance before you walk into the registrar's office. Arriving with proof of settlement and arriving empty-handed produce very different service.
2. Put every request in writing and keep the receiving copy, including follow-ups. One dated, stamped letter outperforms ten phone calls.
3. Build a plan B pack in parallel. While the SF10 moves, secure the original report card, the good moral character certificate and a certification of enrolment. Most receiving schools will grant provisional enrolment on those three, so the child does not lose a term.
4. Confirm the receiving school's cut-off and grade placement. The Philippine school year and the northern-hemisphere September intake do not line up, and a badly timed move can cost half a year. Grade mapping is in Philippine grade levels mapped to the Chinese system, and general enrolment steps in enrolling a child in school in the Philippines.

Finally, treat every timeline, fee and authentication requirement here as directional. Confirm the specifics with the school, DepEd and the DFA against their current announcements, because Philippine schools retain meaningful discretion in their own rules and someone else's experience is not your schedule.