Senators on Thursday supported proposals for the hiring of additional non-teaching personnel to help reduce the stress being experienced by teachers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture noted that many teachers are forced to accept a heavy workload due to the lack of manpower.
The senator pointed out that the Philippines still has the highest number of mandated teaching hours—at six hours a day—compared to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries.
The solution, he said, should be “to hire and create more positions.”
“Our teachers are being given non-teaching responsibilities that’s why they exceed their six hours of work, even eight hours pa,” Gatchalian pointed out during the Senate’s hearing on the implementation of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers.
Under the law, “any teacher engaged in actual classroom instruction shall not be required to render more than six hours of actual classroom teaching a day.” The said law provides teachers sufficient time for the preparation and correction of exercises which is part of their normal teaching duties.
Sen. Maria Josefa Imelda Marcos agreed with Gatchalian saying she also supports the proposal to increase not only clerical non-teaching positions but also janitorial, security and other duties as well.
Marcos said she would support an additional budget for such proposal.
Gatchalian earlier sought an oversight review of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers following persistent concerns regarding teachers’ salary and working conditions.
The senator pointed out that 40 percent of the 27 provisions of the law are fulfilled and 60 percent is still either partially fulfilled or unfulfilled.
He said the Department of Education (DepEd) should review its policies regarding teachers’ working hours as well as the benefits supposed to be fully received by public school teachers such as special hardship allowance, hazard pay, annual free medical check-up and hospitalization, among others.