Gullas: Funds needed to retool teachers

CEBU, Philippines —  Cebu First District Representative Eduardo Gullas has seen the need for Congress to earmark “billions of pesos” in fresh funding to retool public school teachers in the years ahead, amid the deteriorating performance of Filipino students in global assessments.

The educator-legislator said that currently, the government is spending only P723 per head annually for the continuing education of teachers through formal in-service training.

“This is a ridiculously low amount,” Gullas said.

He added that an investment of P5,000 to P10,000 per head every year should be allocated to develop the knowledge and skills of teachers, particularly in English, Math and Science, through seminars and workshops.

Gullas cited that in this year’s General Appropriations Act, the Department of Education (DepEd) is getting only P675 million for the in-service training and other learning and development intervention to upgrade the competence of public school teachers.

The said amount is much lower compared to last year, wherein the education department had a budget of P780 million for the same purpose.

"We have to invest more aggressively in the professional development of our teachers to continuously improve their performance on the job and to motivate them,” Gullas said.

Gullas urged the DepEd to work more closely with teacher training institutions at the University of the Philippines, Philippine Normal University, and the Development Academy of the Philippines.

Based on the staffing summary in the 2021 national budget, the DepEd now has a total of 932,740 employees, most of whom are classroom teachers.

Citing a World Bank report, Gullas said that most Filipino students “do not know what they should know” in school.

“We are convinced that English, Math and Science are not being taught effectively in our public school system,” said Gullas in statement.

The WB report said that poor learning outcomes were observed among Filipino students, with over 80 percent of them falling below minimum levels of expected proficiency.

The report was based on the performance of Filipino students in the Program for International Student Assessment in 2018, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study in 2019, and the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics also in 2019. — GMR (FREEMAN)