RCTQ tapped in legislative consultations on education policies
RCTQ Director Dr. Gina Gonong responds to questions raised by members of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Culture and Arts at the Senate hearing on the TEC bill on 10 December 2020.
RCTQ—through its director, Dr. Gina Gonong—was tapped as resource organization for legislative hearings that tackled education policies both at the Philippine Senate and at the Bangsamoro Interim Parliament in Mindanao.
On the proposed TEC amendatory bill
On 10 December 2020, Dr. Gina Gonong joined some officials from the Philippine Normal University as resource persons at the Senate hearing and related discussions on Senate Bill No. 1887, a bill that seeks to amend RA 7784 or the Teacher Education Council law.
Dr. Gonong expounded on some provisions of the bill as raised by Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Joel Villanueva and Nancy Binay. RCTQ and the Technical Working Group for Teacher Quality (TWG-TQ) led by Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles drafted the proposed amendatory bill which was filed by Gatchalian and Villanueva, respective chairs of the two Senate committees.
The proposed law seeks to ensure the link and alignment of pre-service education with in-service education, and improve the coordination between the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and other agencies like the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) in order to improve teacher education outcomes.
On the proposed Bangsamoro Education Code
On 9 December 2020, Dr. Gonong participated in a public consultation for the draft Bangsamoro Education Code and submitted a position paper after being requested by Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal of the Bangsomoro Ministry of Basic, Technical, and Higher Education (MBTHE) to comment on the proposed legislation.
The proposed Bangsamoro Education Code of 2020 or Bangsamoro Transition Authority’s Parliament Bill No. 70 is “an act providing for the establishment, maintenance, and support of a complete and integrated system of quality education in the Bangsamoro”. It is one of the six priority legislations of the BTA, the interim regional government of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Dr Gonong was invited by Minister Iqbal on behalf of the Committee of Education, to which the position paper was submitted.
The bill, which aims “to develop an educational framework that is relevant and responsive to the needs, ideals, and aspirations of the Bangsamoro people”, was filed in the Bangsamoro Interim Parliament on 15 October 2020. It has since been referred to the Committee on Education.
“We congratulate the Bangsamoro Parliament for tackling this landmark bill, which will provide the foundation for an education system in the Bangsamoro that is expected to benefit learners,” said Dr. Gonong at the virtual consultation on December 9. “We appreciate the provisions that relate to teachers and teaching.”
The position paper presented some suggestions on the bill’s definition and coverage, duties and obligations, chapter on the school teacher, competency, and on public school system, among others.
https://www.rctq.ph/?p=2104NewsMBHTE,Teacher Education Council
