Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Batasan Hills, Quezon City

TWENTIETH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 439

Introduced by
ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. ANTONIO L. TINIO
and KABATAAN Party-List Rep. RENEE LOUISE M. CO

AN ACT
REGULATING CLASS SIZE IN ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS
AND APPOINTING FUNDS THEREFOR

EXPLANATORY NOTE

One of the most deplorable consequences of the government policy of
prioritizing debt payments is the reduction in public spending on education. Because
of the so-called debt burden, which takes up around 30% of the national budget
annually for the past two decades, our public schools have been receiving a declining
share in government spending. This has led to a worsening shortage of teachers and
classrooms.

In order to accommodate a growing school-age population, the Department of
Education has coped with these shortages by allowing extremely large class sizes, In
the urban centers, it is no longer uncommon to see teachers handling classes with 60
to 80 students. According to data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics, classrooms in the Philippines
are among the most crowded in Asia. The country’s public elementary schools”
average class size of 43.9 is far bigger than Malaysia’s 31.7, Thailand’s 22.9, Japan’s
23.6 and India’s 40. In public high schools, the country registered an average size of
56.1, higher than Malaysia’s 34, Thailand’s 41.5, Japan’s 33.9 and India’s 39.

The Senate Economic Planning Office, for its part, found that “Pupil-input
ratios reflect the extent of shortages, especially when disaggregated on regional levels.


While the national average is 38.9 for pupil-classroom ratio, it could go to as high as
77 students in one classroom in the National Capital Region.”"

The proliferation of grossly oversized classes is one of the main causes of the
marked decline in the quality of education provided by our public schools. No matter
how competent a teacher may be, the teaching and learning experience is adversely
affected when there are simply too many students in a class. On the other hand,
smaller classes allow teachers to spend more time on actual instruction and less on
classroom management, and enable greater individual interactions between student
and teacher.

Therefore, the oversized classes found in public school classrooms today
violate the Constitutionally-guaranteed right of Filipino schoolchildren to quality
education.

Oversized classes also violate the right of teachers to just compensation and
humane working conditions. In the current system, a teacher handling a class of 70
students is in fact taking on the workload of two teachers, but without receiving any
additional compensation. This practice of assigning oversized classes to teachers
without extra pay is one of the main mechanisms by which they are “overworked, yet
underpaid.”

With the reopening of schools in the midst of a still-raging pandemic, class size
regulation is, more than ever, an urgent issue that needs to be addressed, along with
the requirements of physical distancing, ventilation, air filtration, and other concerns
regarding the prevention and control of infection and the spread of COVID-19 and
other diseases.

This bill seeks to address these concerns by mandating the regulation of class
size in public schools and prescribing additional compensation for teachers handling
large classes.

This bill was approved by the House of Representatives Committee on
Education during the 16" Congress.

Approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

GA ; _W,
Kees L. TINIO Rep. REI UISE M. CO

ACT Teachers Party-List KAB. Party-List

1 Policy Brief-11-02, June 2011


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Batasan Hills, Quezon City

TWENTIETH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 439

Introduced by
ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. ANTONIO L.. TINIO
and KABATAAN Party-List Rep. RENEE LOUISE M. CO

AN ACT
REGULATING CLASS SIZE IN ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS:
AND APPOINTING FUNDS THEREFOR

Be it enacted in the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION I. Title. This Act shall be known as “The Public School Class Size Law.”

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. It is the declared policy of the State to protect and
promote the right of all citizens to quality education. It is likewise declared that the
State shall provide just compensation and humane working conditions for public
school teachers.

Oversized classes in the country’s public schools adversely affect the learning
experience provided to Filipino schoolchildren. To ensure access to quality education,
it is necessary to establish standards for class size.

For their part, teachers are entitled to protection from unregulated increases in
class size as well as to compensation commensurate to their actual workload.

SEC. 3. Coverage. This Act shall apply to all classes in all public schools of the
Department of Education, and to all classroom teachers therein, whether paid by the
national or local government.

SEC. 4. Standard Class Size. Each class to be handled by a single teacher shall have
a standard size of 35 students. For purposes of this Act, any class with not more than
35 students shall be considered a standard class.


SEC. 5, Large Class Size. Any class exceeding 35 students up to a maximum of 50
students shall be considered a large class. In no case shall a class size in excess of 50
students be permitted.

SEC. 6. Large Class Honorarium. ‘ teacher handling a large class shall be entitled
to a large class honorarium equivalent to one percent (1.0%) of her daily rate for every
student in excess of the standard class size of 35.

This formula shall apply to all classes assigned to the teacher during the school
year.

SEC. 7. Implementing Rules and Regulations. ‘The Department of Education shall
promulgate the rules and regulations necessary for the implementation of this Act
within a period of thirty (30) days after its effectivity.

SEC. 8. Appropriations. The amount of Five Billion Pesos (P5,000,000,000) is
hereby appropriated for the initial implementation of this Act. Thereafter, such sums
as may be necessary for the continued implementation of this Act shall be included in
the appropriations for the Department of Education in the annual General
Appropriations Act.

SEC. 9. Separability Clause. If, for any reason, any provision of this Act is held
unconstitutional, all other provisions not affected thereby shall continue to be in full
force and effect.

SEC. 10. Repealing Clause. All laws, decrees, rules and regulations, and other
issuances inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 11. Effectivity, This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in
the Official Gazette or one (1) newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,