THE DEPARTMENT of Education welcomed the signing into law of Republic Act 11713 or the Excellence in Teacher Education Act.

“With the passage of this landmark measure, we look forward to radically upgrading teacher education and training towards education quality in the country,” the agency said.

The new law was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in April.

“We thank our President, legislators from the Senate and the House of Representatives, and advocates for their collective work and support to this major breakthrough for teacher quality, which is an indispensable component of addressing the challenge of quality in education in the country,” DepEd said in a statement.

RA 11713 strengthens pre-service teacher education by broadening the mandate and functions of the Teacher Education Council chaired by the secretary of Education.

“By increasing the role of the TEC in teacher education, and by upgrading the standards of teacher education institutions in the country, we can ensure the responsiveness of teacher preparation to the needs of the basic education sector,” DepEd said.

It welcomed the codification of DepEd’s transformation of the National Educators Academy of the Philippines in the law.

“The transformation of NEAP is well underway, covering organizational and program transformation, as well as the modernization of its training facilities. The integration of NEAP in RA 11713 operationally converges pre-service and in-service teacher education and training in terms of governance, institutional relationships, program coverage, and implementing mechanisms,” it said.