Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 17) — Senator Win Gatchalian filed a bill on Friday proposing to amend the 57-year-old Magna Carta for public school teachers.
According to the senator, this is to “address new and persisting challenges” that these public servants face. The ‘Revised Magna Carta for Public School Teachers’ or Senate Bill No. 2493 aims to improve their working conditions, salaries, protection, and teaching hours, he said.
The proposed amendments included the granting of “calamity leaves, educational benefits, and longevity pay,” and also defined the circumstances and conditions for giving a “special hardship allowance.” Also included were provisions to enhance teachers’ salary criteria, protect them from out-of-pocket expenses, and limit classroom hours.
\”To improve the working conditions of public school teachers, the proposed measure seeks to reduce the hours of classroom teaching from six to four,\” Gatchalian said.
Other amendments include:
-\tA new computation on additional pay for teachers working for more than eight hours
-\tProhibiting the assignment of teachers to non-teaching tasks
-\tHiring of a substitute if a teacher goes on leave, so as not to overload others by asking them to serve as alternates
-\tReinstatement and back wages for teachers who are unjustly terminated.
The bill also proposed that teachers on probation have salaries, benefits and work conditions that are the same as or not less favorable than those of entry-level teachers.
Under the revised law, the Department of Education and Public Attorney’ s Office (PAO) will also be mandated to collaborate to provide legal aid to teachers with complaints and lawsuits.
Last November, a teachers group said that conditions in public schools are now worse compared with the situation before the COVID-19 pandemic.
READ: Teachers group: Education problems worse now than before the pandemic
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