ACT-Teachers Party-List Rep. France Castro filed House Bill (HB) No.8058 to amend the five-decade-old Republic Act (RA) 4670, or the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers.
“RA 4670 or the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers was enacted 54 years ago. Many changes in the conditions of the public education system have occurred, which would require the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers to be revisited and updated,” said Castro, a member of the militant Makabayan bloc.
“In our proposed Magna Carta of Public School teachers, major amendments include a shorter period of four teaching hours; stronger protection for teachers hired on probationary status (parity in terms of salaries, benefits, and conditions of work with regular teachers, among others), and limitations on allowable salary deductions,” she enumerated.
“Teaching in the time of COVID-19 also requires emphasizing the mandatory and free nature of health benefits for public school teachers,” Castro noted.
Bill to amend Magna Carta for Public School Teachers filed
Castro, a former public school teacher, said her bill also proposes provisions that grant public school teachers protection from out-of-pocket expenses; being assigned with non-teaching work as a general rule, unregulated class sizes, and other conditions detrimental to teaching; and understaffing and overloading.
“The hiring of substitute teachers when necessary, is now also expressed as a duty of the Department of Education. Overwhelming and long-standing demands for conditions conducive to work and teacher protection in class management and student discipline are likewise reflected in the bill,” she added.
“We urge the leaders of the House of Representatives to urgently hear this proposed bill as it forwards the needs and demands of the teachers’ sector in the country.
“Now that teachers are asked to be 21st-century teachers, it is high time that the Magna Carta of public school teachers also reflect 21st-century demands for adequate salaries and benefits that commensurate to their functions and status, a more humane terms and conditions of work be realized and for greater protection in the performance of their duties within and outside schools be observed of public school teachers,” Castro added.