Angara Files Bill Creating Special Fund for Teaching Scholarships, School Modernization

Senator Sonny Angara has filed a bill that seeks to establish a tertiary education transition fund to provide scholarships to teachers and non-teaching staff as well as for the development of innovative curricula, learning and teaching systems of higher education institutions.

The proposed fund will be used to provide grants and scholarship with return of service agreements to academic and non-academic personnel to upgrade their qualification through masteral, doctoral or post-graduate studies.

“We need to retrain our teachers to meet the instructional aptitude needed to teach an entirely new curriculum provided under the 12-year basic education cycle. These scholarships and grants will also attract new teachers and researchers to the higher education sector,” said Angara, a known advocate of educational reform.

The fund will also be used to invest in the development of innovative and relevant curricula, learning and teaching systems, new equipment and digital processes in order to raise the quality and efficiency of education services.

The lawmaker further stressed the need for continuing education programs, targeted towards solving jobs-skills mismatch, leading to unemployment and underemployment.

The tertiary education transition fund will be established during the transition period to provide financial assistance to education workers and institutions that will be affected by the implementation of the Enhanced Basic Education Act or the K-to-12 Act.

With the implementation of the law, fourth year high school or grade 10 students would go to senior high school instead of college starting school year 2016-2017, leading to a decline of first and second year college enrollees.

The proposed fund will be used to provide income support and financial augmentation to retrenched or displaced employees due to the multi-year low enrollment during the transition period.

“We hear the sentiments of our teachers and other personnel and we recognize the need to cushion the adverse effects of the implementation of K-to-12. I’m urging my colleagues and government authorities to work together to mitigate the impact of the modernization of Philippine education with a goal of helping our country’s graduates become more globally competitive and improve their chances of finding gainful employment and rising from poverty,” Angara said.