THE SUPREME Court has released guidelines on requests for disclosure of a Law School’s Bar Examinations Performance.

In a statement, the SC stressed that consent of examinees should be given prior to the release of Bar examinations’ scores.

The SC explained that scores are sensitive personal information under the Data Privacy Act.

Under the guidelines, the SC may approve requests from law schools for Bar exams’ scores, as long as the scores are aggregated, averaged or anonymized, and do not identify any individual exam taker.

Permissible data include the number or percentage of the law school’s graduates categorized by type including new examinees, previous takers, refreshers; number or percentage of graduates within specific score ranges; average score of all graduates in each Bar subject; and overall average general weighted average for law schools with multiple examinees.

At the same time, anonymized scores of each Bar taker, with all identifiers removed, are also permitted.

These types of information are not considered personal information under Republic Act No. 10173 or Data Privacy Act and may be disclosed.

In April 2023, the University of the Philippines College of Law requested the tribunal for data detailing scores of its graduates for each Bar subject during that year’s examinations after the school constituted a committee to study the performance of its graduates.

The scores of the graduates will be supposedly used in formulating policy interventions to improve or enhance their performance in succeeding Bar exams.

Bar Examinations 2023 chair Justice Paul Hernando informed the SC en banc that any disclosure must be implemented with due regard to and full compliance with the law.