SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian seeks additional P58 million for the Teacher Education Council (TEC), a body tasked with improving the quality of education and training for teachers.
At least P28 million of the proposed additional fund will be allocated for the hiring of 28 personnel who will be detailed under the TEC Secretariat.
The new positions were approved by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) this year. However, the corresponding funding requirements were not reflected in the proposed 2025 General Appropriations Act.
Meanwhile the remaining P30 million as proposed by Gatchalian will be allocated for the TEC’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), which will cover research activities, consultations, dialogues, benchmarking, workshops and validation activities.
The TEC’s MOOE will also cover regular meetings, as well as other common costs, operational expenses, and the space to house the TEC secretariat’s structure outside the Department of Education (DepEd).
“I am appealing for this additional P58 million to fully equip the Teacher Education Council. I truly believe that this is a low-hanging fruit and an immediate reform in terms of strengthening and empowering our teachers, especially when it comes to training and locating good potential teachers to come into the system. The Teacher Education Council has a lot of powers to improve the teaching capabilities of our education system,” said Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education.
