TL;DR: School Form 3 (SF3) is DepEd's Books Issued and Returned record: a per-section list of every textbook and reading material handed to learners and collected back. The class adviser prepares it at the beginning and end of the school year. It came from DepEd Order No. 4, s. 2014, which replaced 16 older forms with seven modified ones, and DepEd Order No. 58, s. 2017 added the Senior High School version (SF3-SHS). Parents never receive SF3, but it is the sheet a school points to when a book goes missing, and its own codes decide what happens next: a letter for force majeure, a teacher report for a transferee, or payment where negligence is recorded.
If a teacher asked your child to return "the books on SF3," or you are a class adviser staring at the columns for the first time, this is a textbook inventory form and nothing more. It is one of ten numbered School Forms every public school keeps, and it is among the least visible to families because nothing on it is ever handed to a parent. This guide explains what SF3 records, who is responsible for it, when it is filed, and what the loss and action codes mean, all traced to the DepEd orders that created and expanded the form. For the wider set, see our guide to DepEd school forms SF1 to SF10.
What Is School Form 3?
SF3 is the Books Issued and Returned form. DepEd Order No. 58, s. 2017 describes it in one line as a list of books and other reading materials issued to the learners, and returned to the issuing authority. It is kept per section, arranged by book title, and it covers every textbook and reading material in circulation regardless of how many copies exist for a subject.
The form was introduced by DepEd Order No. 4, s. 2014, "Adoption of the Modified School Forms (SFs) for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools," which consolidated 16 older forms into seven. The order's stated aim was blunt: the modified forms would "allow all public school teachers and school heads to focus on the core business of curriculum delivery." Three years later, DepEd Order No. 58, s. 2017 added level-specific versions across the set, giving SF3 a Senior High School counterpart coded SF3-SHS.
Disclaimer: form layouts and reporting duties change between issuances. Confirm the current template and submission schedule with your school or Schools Division Office rather than relying on any online copy, including this summary.
Who Fills In SF3, and When?
The class adviser. DepEd Order No. 006, s. 2025, "Guidelines on the Streamlining of School Forms and Reports Accomplished by Teachers," is the current authority on which forms a teacher can still be made to accomplish, and it lists "School Form 3 - Book Issued and Returned" under the Homeroom Guidance and Management ancillary task, in the same group as SF1, SF2, SF5, SF5A, SF8, SF9 and SF10. In practice a librarian or subject teacher may run the physical handout, but the section record belongs to the adviser.
The timing is tied to the two ends of the school year: entries in the Date Issued column when books are distributed, entries in the Date Returned column when they are collected. Because DepEd moved public schools to a three-term calendar under DepEd Order No. 009, s. 2026, the shape of the school year has changed, but SF3 remains a beginning-of-year and end-of-year task rather than a per-term one.
| SF3 at a glance | Detail |
|---|---|
| Official name | School Form 3 - Books Issued and Returned |
| Codes | SF3 (elementary and junior high), SF3-SHS (senior high) |
| Created by | DepEd Order No. 4, s. 2014 |
| SHS version added by | DepEd Order No. 58, s. 2017 |
| Prepared by | Class adviser (DepEd Order No. 006, s. 2025) |
| Filed | Beginning and end of the school year |
| Given to parents | No, it is an internal school record |
What Does SF3 Actually Record?
Each row is a learner; each block of columns is a book title. The header carries the school ID, school year, grade level and section, and the body carries the learner's name, the title issued, the date issued and the date returned. At the foot, the form totals the number of male and female learners and the number of copies issued and returned, which is what turns a class list into an inventory a school can reconcile.
Two things are worth knowing. First, every textbook in use is reported, no matter how many copies per subject exist, so the count is meant to be complete rather than a sample. Second, the form is designed to be cross-checked. SF3 sits next to SF1 (the school register) and SF2 (daily attendance), and a name that appears on one and not the others is the sort of discrepancy a school head or division validator looks for.
What Do the SF3 Loss Codes Mean?
This is the part that reaches families. When a book is not returned, the adviser does not simply write "lost." The form uses a two-part code: one code for the reason, one for the action taken.
| Reason code | Meaning | Required action |
|---|---|---|
| FM | Force Majeure (fire, flood, typhoon and similar) | LLTR - letter from the learner, signed by the parent or guardian |
| TDO | Transferred out or dropped out | TLTR - teacher-prepared letter or report noted by the school head |
| NEG | Negligence | PTL - paid by the learner |
The distinction matters. A book destroyed by a typhoon is documented with a letter, not a payment. A book that left with a transferee is closed out by a teacher's report noted by the school head. Only negligence carries a payment code, and even then it is book replacement accountability, recorded on an inventory form, not a school fee.
Can a Missing Book Block Enrolment or Records?
Enrolment, no. Records, not the same answer — and the difference is worth knowing before you argue with a registrar.
On enrolment the rules are clear and they favour the learner. DepEd Order No. 017, s. 2025, the Revised Basic Education Enrollment Policy that replaced the 2018 policy, states that all types of learners shall be accepted in any basic education institution on presentation of the minimum documentary requirements. DepEd Order No. 19, s. 2008 separately prohibits public elementary and secondary schools from making collections a condition of enrolment, and DepEd has repeatedly reiterated that policy since. A slot is not something a school may trade against a missing textbook.
Records run on a different rule, and it does not read the same way. DepEd Order No. 54, s. 2016, which sets the request and release process for Forms 137 and 138, reiterates in its Other Provisions section only that "in no case shall non-payment of voluntary school contributions or membership fees be made a basis for non-admission, non-promotion, or non-issuance of clearance to a student by the school concerned." A textbook the school owns and has not got back is property accountability, not a voluntary contribution, so that protection does not reach it. On the private-school side the position is explicit in the other direction: Section 128 of DepEd Order No. 88, s. 2010 lets a private basic-education school withhold the release of transfer credentials for nonpayment of the financial obligations or property responsibility of the pupil or student to the school, and requires release as soon as that obligation is settled.
So the practical line is this. If a school ties an unreturned book to a slot or to promotion, raise it with the school head first and then with the Schools Division Office. If it ties one to the release of SF10, ask for the accountability in writing, check that the book is actually recorded against your child on SF3 rather than against the section as a whole, and settle or replace it — that is both the faster route and, in a private school, the one the rules point to. Our guides to the no collection policy and to requesting Form 137 or SF10 cover what schools can and cannot withhold.
What Should a Parent or Adviser Do With SF3?
- Write down what was issued. Titles and dates, at handout. That single note settles most end-of-year disputes before they start.
- Report a loss early, with the right reason. A flood-damaged book documented promptly is an FM entry with a letter, not a payment.
- Tell the school when a child transfers out. A transferee's books close out under TDO with a teacher report, which is why registrars ask about outstanding books during a school transfer.
- Do not sign a blank acknowledgement. The form is the record of what was actually handed over; confirm titles and counts before signing.
- Keep enrolment and books separate in your own head. One is your child's right to a slot, the other is school property accountability.
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Sources
- DepEd Order No. 4, s. 2014 - Adoption of the Modified School Forms (SFs) for Public Elementary and Secondary Schools
- DepEd Order No. 58, s. 2017 - Adoption of New School Forms for Kindergarten, SHS, ALS, Health and Nutrition, and Standardization of Permanent Records
- DepEd Order No. 006, s. 2025 - Guidelines on the Streamlining of School Forms and Reports Accomplished by Teachers
- DepEd Order No. 017, s. 2025 - Revised Basic Education Enrollment Policy
- DepEd Order No. 19, s. 2008 - Implementation of No Collection Policy in All Public Elementary and Secondary Schools
- DepEd Order No. 54, s. 2016 - Guidelines on the Request and Transfer of Learner's School Records (official PDF)
- DepEd Order No. 88, s. 2010 - 2010 Revised Manual of Regulations for Private Schools in Basic Education (official PDF, Section 128)
- TeacherPH - Modified School Form 3 (SF3), Books Issued and Returned
- SchoolFinderPH - DepEd School Forms SF1 to SF10
- SchoolFinderPH - No Collection Policy
- SchoolFinderPH - Form 137 and SF10 Guide
