A legislator who belongs to a party-list group that advocates teachers’ rights on Saturday welcomed the filing in the Senate of a bill that shields teachers from “malicious accusations.”
Assistant Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro was referring to Senate Bill 1189 filed by Senator Grace Poe.
Poe’s bill protects teachers from “malicious accusations of child abuse as well as provide them with support on matters of student discipline.”
“Now, more than ever, public school teachers need more champions to heed their calls to protect their rights and welfare in their workplaces. Teachers have to assume large class sizes, multiple shifts each day, and the heavier and additional tasks. Many affirm that instilling discipline in their classrooms has become increasingly difficult,” Castro said.
Castro authors House Bill 220 as counterpart Poe’s bill in the House of Representatives.
“The Teacher Protection Act would also aid teachers and prevent cases of alleged child abuse in the classroom when trying to discipline the pupils by providing teachers specific guidelines on how to discipline their students to protect them from being accused of violating the Child Abuse Law,” Castro said.
She added that “while child protection is necessary, teacher protection is also a must.”
Castro added, “Especially with the work conditions and the additional work that teachers have to accomplish everyday, clear guidelines on effective methods of classroom management would be a great help for teachers to not get charged of violating RA 7610.”
Castro. We urge the leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives to immediately hear this bill as this measure was a product of many consultations with public school teachers nationwide who are hoping for the swift passage of this bill into law,” Castro ended.