Press Release
October 4, 2008

Gordon: RP needs P5.3 billion to hire 39,000 public school teachers

The country needs more than 39,000 teachers to balance the public school system's teacher to student ratio that would ensure that pupils are given the necessary guidance by their mentors, Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon today said.

Gordon said the number of public school teachers could not keep up with the rapid growth of pupils enrolling in public schools. The current teacher to student ratio is at one is to 50 (1:50), far from the ideal one teacher is to 35 pupils ratio.

"Because of the lack of teachers, add to that the shortage in classrooms, our pupils have poorer chances of learning due to overcrowding and class-shifting," he said, mindful that some public schools have three to four shifts in a day.

Government statistics show that in school year 2006-2007, public school enrolment for elementary students is at 12,096,656 and for secondary students is at 5,072,210; while the number of teachers is at 343,646 and 128,191, respectively.

The Senator said one of the main reasons why there is a low teacher workforce is due to the low remuneration. A public school teacher's monthly salary is P12,000, but after standard deductions, they only take home P10,000. Some even take home nothing because of numerous loans they enter into.

Gordon, chairman of the Senate committee on government corporations and public enterprise, said his Senate Bill 2402, also known as the Health and Education Acceleration Program (HEAP), addresses the problem of lack of teachers and their low compensation.

Under the HEAP bill, touted as "text-for-change" bill, telecommunication companies (telcos) will be required to remit part of their net profit from local text messaging to bankroll the financial requirements for education and health infrastructures.

Gordon said the hiring, training and remuneration of teachers is ensured under the bill where teachers' salaries are given on time and in full, reducing their need to apply for loans.

"By having enough teachers, we can expect our educators to focus their energies on teaching better and have more time to avail of free training to improve their skills," he said.

"We don't just need teachers, we need quality educators--those who are competent, effective and can lead our children to the path of right knowledge. We have to take care of our teachers if we expect them to take care of our children," he added.

Gordon said the government needs P5.28 billion to hire the 39,762 more teachers and an additional P79 million for their training.

He assured that once the HEAP bill is enacted into law, there will be enough funds not only to hire the needed teachers but also to address the other existing backlogs in education infrastructures, which are, 9,754 classrooms at the cost of P7.31 billion; 4,121,009 school seats at P4.12 billion; 63,178,377 textbooks at P4.21 billion; and 8,499 principals at P1.66 billion.

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