Be it enacted by the National Assembly of the Philippines:

SECTION. 1. The Department of Public Instruction is authorized! to prepare and prescribe a school ritual which shall he observed in all public and private elementary and secondary schools in the Philippine.

SEC. 2. The school ritual shall consist of solemn and patriotic ceremonies and shall mainly include the singing of the Philippine National Hymn, and the recitation by the pupils or students as sen bled of a patriotic pledge prepared by a committee provided for in this Act. The ceremonies shall be held if. the school or college premises as often as may be practicable under the direction of the respective school or college authorities.

SEC. 3. The patriotic pledge shall be prepared by a committee composed of the Secretary of Public Instruction as chairman, and the President of the University of the Philippines, the Director of Education, and the Director of Private Education, as members. The patriotic pledge shall, before its adoption, be approved by the President of the

SEC. 4. This Act shall lake effect beginning with the school year nineteen hundred and forty-nineteen hundred and forty-one.

Approved, August 19, 1940.