Senate approves teaching supplies’ allowance increase

Senator Win Gatchalian hailed the Senate’s third reading approval of a measure that would increase teachers’ allowance for teaching supplies.   Senate Bill No. 1092 or the Teaching Supplies Allowance Act of 2020, which Gatchalian co-authored and co-sponsored, aims to institutionalize and increase the annual teaching supplies allowance, previously known as the “chalk allowance,” from […]

Teachers’ medical allowance under 2021 budget should not be removed

With the Senate set to deliberate on the P4.506-trillion national budget for 2021, Senator Win Gatchalian said he will push for the restoration of funds for public school teachers’ medical benefits.   Despite the limitation on resources, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture emphasized it is crucial to maintain, […]

On beating the COVID-19 ‘infodemic’: Boost media and information literacy among learners

Amid the celebration of the Global Media and Information Literacy Week from October 24-31, Senator Win Gatchalian urged public and private schools to boost their initiatives against misinformation, especially those that concern COVID-19.   Since the country’s more than 25 million learners are more exposed to various media because of distance learning, Gatchalian said that […]

Better quality assurance of distance learning materials needed

While the Department of Education (DepEd) has put up its ‘Error Watch’ to monitor errors in its learning materials, Senator Win Gatchalian sought a more rigorous quality assurance of lessons’ content to avoid confusion among the country’s public school learners.   DepEd reported that from October 12 to 20, its Error Watch initiative has monitored […]

Increase centers of excellence for teacher education

Senator Win Gatchalian is eyeing more centers of excellence that will boost the quality of education and training for the country’s aspiring teachers.   In a Senate panel hearing, non-profit organization Philippine Business for Education (PBED) reported that there are only 74 centers of excellence and development among 1,572 Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) in the […]

Raise age of sexual consent to help combat child marriages

As the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to force millions of girls into child marriages, Senator Win Gatchalian reiterated the urgency of raising the age of sexual consent as one of the measures to combat this form of gender-based violence and human rights violation.   A child marriage is a marriage of a boy or a girl […]

Bill seeking reforms to improve teacher education filed

Senator Win Gatchalian has filed a bill that aims to improve teacher education in the country through reforms in the Teacher Education Council (TEC).   Gatchalian’s Senate Bill No. 1887 amends Republic Act No. 7784, the law that created the TEC, which seeks to achieve better coordination between the Department of Education (DepEd) and the […]

To school officials: Strictly enforce health protocols, alternative work arrangements

To prevent the uptick of COVID-19 cases now that teachers and non-teaching staff  are expected be out in the field to distribute modules or report to their respective schools,  Senator Win Gatchalian urged public school officials to strictly enforce the Department of Education’s (DepEd) alternative work arrangements and health protocols to make teachers and personnel […]