SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian cited the need to fully implement the Excellence in Teacher Education Act or Republic Act 11713 after an advocacy group noted the persistently low passing rates in the Licensure Examination for Teachers.

The senator said that the law, which he authored and sponsored, needs full implementation to address low passing rates and to increase the number of high-performing Teacher Education Institutions.

The law seeks to improve the quality of teacher education and training through a revamped Teacher Education Council, which will strengthen the coordination between the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Professional Regulation Commission.

This is to ensure coherence in teacher education and training from pre-service to in-service.

“Sa pagsisikap nating iangat ang kalidad ng edukasyong natatanggap ng ating mga kabataan, mahalagang tiyakin din natin na nakatatanggap din ang ating mga guro ng dekalidad na edukasyon, lalo na’t sila ang may pinakamahalagang papel sa pagkatuto ng ating mga mag-aaral,” the chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education said.

Based on the Philippine Business for Education’s study on the Board Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers from 2010-2022, the passing rate for overall LET takers at the elementary level is only 37 percent and 40 percent for the secondary level.

The study further revealed that based on the overall passing rates of Teacher Education Institutions, the share of high-performing TEIs at the elementary level is only 2.2 percent and 2.0 percent at the secondary level.

High-performing TEIs have an overall passing rate of at least 75 percent in at least 7 out of the 12 years from 2010 to 2022.

The percentage of low-performing TEIs from the same period is 34.8 percent at the elementary level and 24.4 percent at the secondary level.

Low-performing TEIs are those with an overall passing rate of at most 25 percent in the same period.

In her presentation of the 2023 Basic Education Report, Vice President and Secretary of Education Sara Duterte said that the DepEd aims to make the new TEC and its Secretariat fully functional.

She added that the TEC will start working on its mandates, including the setting of minimum requirements for pre-service teacher education programs in the country.