Senator Win Gatchalian is seeking an inquiry in aid of legislation on the implementation of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (Republic Act No. 4670), a law that seeks to improve the living and working conditions of public school teachers.

Senator Win Gatchalian is seeking the immediate and smooth distribution of aid for displaced teaching and non-teaching personnel now that the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act (Bayanihan 2) is signed into law.

Amid the observance of the World Suicide Prevention Day today, September 10, Senator Win Gatchalian is urging schools to raise awareness on suicide prevention as the COVID-19 pandemic makes learners more vulnerable to stress, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.

Senator Win Gatchalian is seeking to strengthen the Alternative Learning System (ALS) as part of the education sector’s recovery efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in reaching out to more than four million learners who did not enroll this coming school year and give them a second chance.

To help local government units roll out their localized version of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP), Senator Win Gatchalian introduced a provision in the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act that authorizes the use of a portion of the Special Education Fund (SEF).

Senator Win Gatchalian lauded the provisions in the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act (Bayanihan 2) that will help schools foster continuity of learning through loans and other subsidies while ensuring job security of teachers and other school personnel amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the Department of Education (DepEd) has allowed the use of 17,910 classrooms in the National Capital Region (NCR) as isolation and quarantine facilities, Senator Win Gatchalian said that a permanent evacuation center in every city and municipality should be part of the country’s efforts to ‘build back better’ from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Senator Win Gatchalian urged the government to ensure that learners and teachers are given psychosocial and mental health support while educators scramble to carry out logistical challenges and many learners experience feelings of anxiety as they await classes to begin amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

While Senator Win Gatchalian was one of the first to propose a deferment of the supposed August 24 class opening to a later date due to uncertainties brought about by the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, he strongly opposes an ‘academic freeze’, warning that it would end up increasing learning losses and inequalities among the country’s learners.