DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, CULTURE AND SPORTS (DECS) AND DIRECTOR OF

CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT V. ROBERTO REY C. SAN DIEGO AND

JUDGE TERESITA DIZON-CAPULONG, IN HER CAPACITY AS PRESIDING JUDGE OF
THE REGIONAL TRIAL COURT OF VALENZUELA, METRO MANILA, BRANCH 172

G.R. No. 89572December 21, 1989, Cruz, J.

Facts:

Roberto Rey C. San Diego took the National Medical Admission Test (NMAT) thrice and
flunked it as many times. Invoking his right to quality education, San Diego filed a petition to
declare the three-flunk rule of the DECS as invalid, and to allow him to take the NMAT for a
fourth time.

Issue:

NO.

The right to quality education is not absolute. No less than the Constitution provides that
"every citizen has the right to choose a profession or course of study, subject to fair,
reasonable

and equitable admission and academic requirements.”

Whether San Diego should be allowed to take the NMAT for a fourth time.

Ruling:

The right to quality education invoked by San Diego is not absolute. No less than

the Constitution provides that "every citizen has the right to choose a profession or course
of study, subject to fair, reasonable and equitable admission and academic requirements.” It
is not enough to simply invoke the right to quality education as a guarantee of the

Constitution: one must show that he is entitled to it because of his preparation and promise.

The right of the citizen to quality education is likewise tempered by the duty of the State to
regulate and enrich the country’s system of education by directing the student to the course
for which he is best suited as determined by initial tests and evaluations. Otherwise, the
country will be "swamped with mediocrity," in the words of Justice Holmes, not because its
citizens lack intelligence but because the country has become a nation of
misfits.