The House of Representatives completed its committee-level deliberation of two education bills proposing to amend the Teacher Education Council (TEC) Law during the joint committee hearing and technical working group (TWG) meeting on 4 February 2021 and 11 February 2021, respectively.

RCTQ, represented by Director Dr. Gina Gonong, joined the Philippine Normal University officials as among the resource persons at the two meetings, which also took place simultaneously with similar proceedings in the Senate.

The Committee on Higher and Technical Education (CHTE) chaired by Rep. Mark Go (Baguio City) and the Committee on Basic Education and Culture (CBEC) chaired by Rep. Roman Romulo (Pasig City) jointly tackled House Bill No. 8441 filed by Rep. Romulo and House Bill No. 7938 filed by Deputy Speaker Rep. Weslie Gatchalian (Valenzuela City).

“The objectives of these two measures are for us to authorize the TEC to be able to set minimum standards of the curriculum programs of our teacher education institutions (TEIs), and to allow DepEd through the TEC to be able to review and also provide guidelines and set the path for the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) for the examinations that they give our teachers who graduated from the TEI programs,” said Rep. Romulo at the joint committee hearing.

Rep. Romulo added: “Based on the data provided to us, the elementary teachers licensure examination results from 2014 to 2019 show that the average passing rate was only 28% while those for secondary teachers licensure examinations for the same period show that the average passing rate was only 36%. This forms part of the reason why Rep. Gatchalian and I believe that we should strengthen the TEC.”

The bills are co-authored by Rep. Lawrence Fortun (1st District, Agusan del Norte); Hon. Marlyn Alonte (Biñan City); Hon. Angelo Barba (2nd District, Ilocos Norte); Hon. Joy Myra Tambunting (2nd District, Parañaque City); and Hon. Gabriel Bordado, Jr. (3rd District, Camarines Sur). At the committee hearing, at least three more representatives expressed their intention to co-author the consolidated bills, including Rep. Jose Tejada (North Cotabato), Rep. Dahlia Loyola (5th District, Cavite) and Rep. Florida Robes (San Jose Del Monte City).

Following the TWG meeting, a TWG report prepared by the chair of the TWG  and the Committee Secretariat will be reported to the two committees for the approval of their members before it will be brought to the plenary for voting.

Apart from PNU, 25 organizations were represented at the joint committee hearing and TWG meeting including the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), PRC – Board of Professional Teachers, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP), Teacher Education Council (TEC), University of the Philippines (UP) – College of Education, Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA), Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), Association of Christian Schools, Colleges and Universities (ACSCU) Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAPSCU), Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC), Tech-Voc Schools Association of the Philippines, Inc. (TVSA), Association of Local Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation (ALCUCOA), Association of Local Colleges and Universities (ALCU), State Colleges and Universities Faculty Regents (SCUFAR) – Region III, Philippine Public School Teachers Association (PPSTA), Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC), Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), Philippine Elementary School Principals Association (PESPA), Philippine Association of Schools Superintendents (PASS), Philippine Council of Deans and Educators for Business, and Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

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The House of Representatives completed its committee-level deliberation of two education bills proposing to amend the Teacher Education Council (TEC) Law during the joint committee hearing and technical working group (TWG) meeting on 4 February 2021 and 11 February 2021, respectively. RCTQ, represented by Director Dr. Gina Gonong, joined the...
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