Senate bill filed on scholarship grants to public school teachers, their children 

A BILL that seeks to provide scholarship grants to public school teachers and their children has been filed at the Senate to entice more educators to join state-run institutions.   

“In turn, more teachers would educate our growing number of public school students, enabling better quality of education to Filipinos and consequently resulting to more productive members of society,” Senator Francis N. Tolentino said in a statement on Sunday.  

Mr. Tolentino, author of Senate Bill 399, said the proposed law is also a means of recognizing the important role of teachers.     

Under the proposed measure, eligible public school teachers will “be given scholarship grants to obtain masters, doctorate, or post-graduate education related to the subjects or courses they are teaching.”  

Their children will automatically be given scholarship covering their elementary, secondary, and tertiary education.  

Eligible public school teachers include those in active service for at least two consecutive years prior to the date of application for the grant. Retired public teachers may also avail of the grant for their children in proportion to the number of years they were in service.    

Mr. Tolentino cited data from the National Center for Education Statistics showing there were about 3.3 million full-time and part-time public school teachers in the academic year 2017 to 2018. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan