Gatchalian wants lighter workload for teachers

WITH classes in public schools set to start on October 5, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday stressed the need to ease the workload of teachers to keep them from suffering burnout as the country shifts to distance learning.

Gatchalian, who heads the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, warned that bombarding public school teachers with loads of tasks would increase their stress and anxiety levels, which could affect the quality of instruction for more than 22 million learners.

The workload assigned to teachers and principals is one of the issues raised during a Senate panel hearing on the opening of classes.

Philippine Elementary School Principals Association President Ferdinand Millan lamented that teachers had a heavy workload.

“There are lots of programs and projects in the central, regional, and division offices on the part of teachers and principals that cause cognitive overload,” he said.

Gatchalian learned that teachers and principals were “multitasking” ahead of the October 5 class opening.

On top of preparing learning materials, teachers and principals also attend webinars and have to complete courses on different learning modalities.

To address the workload issue, Gatchalian sought a Senate inquiry on the implementation of Republic Act 4670, or the “Magna Carta for Public School Teachers,” which seeks to improve the living and working conditions of teachers.

The Magna Carta mandates that public school teachers shall not render more than six hours of teaching in a day. If they work for more than six hours, teachers are entitled to additional compensation.

Even with these provisions in the Magna Carta, teachers are burdened with nonteaching tasks, even before the pandemic, Gatchalian noted.

A policy paper released by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies said teachers received additional designations on student guidance, budget, disaster response and health. Teachers’ participation is also expected in government programs such as mass immunization, deworming, feeding, and election, among others.

“We are all witnesses to the many sacrifices of our teachers who have been struggling to adapt to the new normal way of teaching students through various modalities. They never stop in their efforts to reach out to all students to make sure that they will be on board when classes open on October 5,” Gatchalian said.