Teacher council law strengthens quality of education

MANILA – The quality of education and training of teachers will be strengthened under Republic Act (RA) 11713, or the Teacher Education Council.

The council will be led by the Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) as chair and the vice chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as vice chair. They will serve in an ex-officio capacity.

The other ex-officio members of the council include the director-general of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, the executive director of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and chairperson of the Professional Regulation Commission.

The regular members of the council will be appointed by the President, based on their “integrity, willingness to serve, and relevant expertise and experience in the education sector.”

These include a teacher representative from public basic education; a representative from an organization of deans of colleges of education, professional teachers and educators; a representative from a national organization of private schools; and a representative from an organization composed of school leaders from public or private schools.

According to the law signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on April 27 and which introduced amendments to RA 7784, the members of the council will serve sans any compensation but will be reimbursed for actual and necessary expenses incurred in carrying out their duties.

They are also mandated to meet at least four times a year and hold meetings at the call of the council chairperson or a majority of the members.

“All regular members of the Council shall hold office for a period of three years and may be reappointed once for another three years,” RA 11713 said.

RA 11713 also institutionalizes the National Educators’ Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) to provide quality professional development programs on teacher education to in-service teachers, school leaders, and other teaching-related personnel in all public and private basic education institutions.

The NEAP, as a component unit of DepEd and headed by the Education Secretary, is tasked to employ a “world-class” approach to professional development that is based on strong evidence and research.

On the same day, the President likewise signed RA 11710 converting Parañaque National High School-Marcelo Green Annex into an independent national high school to be known as Marcelo Green National High School.

Copies of Republic Acts 11710 and 11713 were released by the Palace on Friday.