Cagayan de Oro 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Facebook)


Here's potential good news for our overworked public school teachers. Cagayan de Oro 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez recently filed House Bill (HB) No. 7822, which seeks to limit the class hours of public school teachers from eight hours to just six hours. Rodriguez, chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, said the bill aims to promote the welfare of public school teachers and to raise the quality of basic education in the Philippines. In justifying his bill, the Mindanaoan cited the need to modify the class hours of teachers to allow them to prepare lesson plans and instructional materials, interact with students during co-curricular activities, and perform other jobs that may be assigned by the principal or superior. “Their work site is not limited to the classroom. Teachers perform a regular eight-hour work shift just like any average laborer. Six hours of that shift may be spent in the lecture hall, and two hours are spent in lesson-plan preparation, lecture planning, and student-parent consultations,” Rodriguez explained. “We commend the outstanding innovative programs implemented by Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte in her first year in office. She has always been a true advocate of quality education for learners and in promoting the overall welfare of the teachers. We are confident that we have her support on this measure,” the veteran lawmaker added. Data from the Department of Education (DepEd) shows that there are 876,642 public school teachers in basic education. With a little over 28 million students enrolled in school year 2021-2022, the national teacher-to-learner ratio for elementary is 1:27; 1:24 in junior high school; and 1:27 in senior high school.