SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian called on the Department of Education to investigate reports that teachers were allegedly buying ready-made research papers for promotion or funding.
“These unethical practices show lack of integrity and should not be tolerated. I am also urging the department to institute mechanisms that would thoroughly vet research output submitted by teachers,” said the chairman of the Senate education, culture and arts committee.
At the same time, he pushed for the reduction of the workload of teachers to give them time to do research.
Gatchalian noted that prior to the pandemic, teachers were already burdened with non-teaching tasks.
He also called for the enhancement of teacher education and training, which is the objective of Senate Bill 1887, or the “Teacher Education Council Act,” which he filed in September last year.
The measure introduces the institutionalization of the National Educators Academy of the Philippines as an attached agency of the Department of Education, whose primary objective is to provide and streamline professional development of teachers and school leaders.
“They would meet emerging education quality challenges and provide national leadership for promoting excellence so that schools, teachers, and school leaders, as well as tertiary education institutions and teacher educators, have the maximum impact on student learning in all Philippine schools,” Gatchalian said.