The Rights and Privileges of Teachers in the Philippines

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the rights and privileges of teachers in the Philippines

After having learned the demands that learners, parents, school officials, the academic community, the
larger community and the state put on teachers. Now let’s discuss their rights and privileges.
Filipino teachers ought to be aware and knowledgeable of these well-deserved benefits.

There is no other Constitution in the history of the country that has given importance to teachers more
than the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

The 1987 Philippine Constitutions states;

The state shall enhance the right of the teachers to professional advancement (paragraph 4). It shall
"assign the highest budgetary priority to education to "ensure that teaching will attract and retain its
rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and other means of job
satisfaction and fulfillment."

Commonwealth Act 578 amended the Revised Penal Code to include teachers, professors, and persons
charged with the supervision of the public or duly recognized private schools, colleges, and universities,
within the term "persons in authority."

RA 4670, otherwise known as The Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, details the rights, privileges
and benefits of teachers such as:

1) consent for transfer

2) safeguards disciplinary procedure
3) no discrimination
4) married couples to be employed in the same locality;
5) academic freedom;
6) not more than 6 hours in actual classroom teaching;
7) additional compensation for activities outside normal duties;
8) salaries comparable to other occupations to insure teachers a reasonable standard of life for
themselves and their families;
9) salaries appropriated by local governments not to be less than those paid to teachers of the national
government;
10) cost of living allowance;
11) special hardship allowances;
12) medical examination free of charge once a year during the teacher's professional life;
13) prohibition of unauthorized deduction from teachers' salaries;
14) study leave;
15) indefinite leave;
16) salary increase upon retirement and
17) freedom to establish or join organization of their choice.

These show that the welfare of professional teachers has been given much attention. After all, there is
no truth to what is often said about teachers "overworked and underpaid."

In summary, the welfare of teachers has been given much attention in the past years. The Philippine
Constitution guarantees that the state shall "enhance the right of teachers to professional
advancement;" "assign the highest budgetary priority to education;" and "ensure that teaching will
attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate remuneration and
other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment".

Other laws, especially RA 4670, Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, give in detail teachers' rights,
privileges and benefits.