WHEREAS, the Constitution provides that "All educational institutions shall be under the supervision of, and subject to regulation by, the State", and requires that "the State shall establish and maintain a complete, adequate and integrated system of education relevant to the goals of national development";

WHEREAS, in the pursuit of these objectives, the Department of Education and Culture has adopted ways and means of overseeing all the educational institutions in the country;

WHEREAS, this supervisory function of the DEC has been primarily beamed towards insuring that the educational institutions inculcate in the studentry love of the country, teach the duties of citizenship, and develop moral character, personal discipline, and scientific, technological and vocational efficiency;

WHEREAS, to implement these objectives, the institutions have relied upon their teachers whose direct and continuing interaction with the young people and the children make them potent forces for the development of proper attitudes among the citizenry;

WHEREAS, this accounts for the tremendous growth of the teaching population, comprising in the civil service sector alone — more than 300,000 teachers deployed all over the country;

WHEREAS, to insure that in the immediacy and urgency of teacher recruitment qualitative requirements are not overlooked, it has become necessary to regulate the teaching profession;

WHEREAS, although teaching requires a number of years of collegiate study, it is the only course that it is not yet considered a profession;

WHEREAS, in recognition of the vital role of teachers in nation-building and as an incentive to raise the morale of teachers, it is imperative that they be considered as professionals and teaching be recognized as a profession.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby decree and order:

SECTION 1. Title. — This Decree shall be known as the Decree Professionalizing Teaching.

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. — It is hereby declared a policy that teacher education shall be given primary concern and attention by the government and shall be of the highest quality, and strongly oriented to Philippine conditions and to the needs and aspirations of the Filipino people even as it seeks enrichment from adoptable ideas and practices of other people.

SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. — As used in this Decree, the following shall be construed as follows:

(a) Teaching refers to the profession primarily concerned with the classroom instruction, at the elementary and secondary levels, in accordance with the curriculum prescribed by National Board of Education, whether on part-time or full-time basis in the public or private schools.

(b) Teachers refers to all persons engaged in teaching at the elementary and secondary levels, whether on a full-time or part-time basis, including guidance counsellors, school librarians, industrial arts or vocational teachers and all other persons performing supervisory and/or administrative functions in all schools in the aforesaid levels and legally qualified to practice teaching under this Decree.

(c) Board refers to the National Board for Teachers duly constituted under this Decree.

SECTION 4. Creation of the National Board for Teachers. — There is hereby created a National Board for Teachers, hereinafter called the Board, to be composed of the following:

1)	Secretary of Education and Culture	Co-Chairman
2)	Chairman, Civil Service
3)	Commissioner, Professional Regulations Commission	Member
4)	Two members representing the private sector to be appointed by the President

SECTION 5. Powers and Duties. — The Board shall have the following powers and duties:

(a) Appoint a set of examiners for every examination who will determine and prepare the contents of the Board examination for teachers, hereinafter referred to as examination, in the elementary and secondary levels of instruction, to be held at least once a year;

(b) Determine and fix the places and dates of examination, appoint supervisors and room examiners from among the employees of the Government who shall be entitled to a daily allowance to be fixed by the Board for every examination day actually attended, use the buildings and facilities of public and private schools for examination purposes, approve applications to take examination, and approve the release of examination results;

(c) Look from time to time into the conditions affecting the practice of the teaching profession, adopt such measures as may be deemed proper for the enhancement of said profession, and/or maintenance of the professional standards and ethics;

(d) Issue, suspend, revoke, replace or reissue Professional Teachers Certificate, and administer oaths;

(e) Appoint, subject to the provisions of existing laws, such officials and employees as are necessary in the effective performance of its functions and responsibilities, prescribe their duties and fix their compensation;

(f) Prescribe and collect examination and other fees as it may deem proper; and

(g) Promulgate rules and regulations, and exercise such other powers, functions and duties as may be necessary to carry into effect the purposes of this Decree.

SECTION 6. Qualification Requirements for Examination Applicants. — No applicant shall be admitted to take the examination unless, on the date of filing of the application, he shall have complied with the following requirements:

(a) Except those who have been engaged in teaching as herein defined for at least five years in schools in the Philippines not organized exclusively for nationals of a foreign country at the time of the effectivity of this Decree, the applicant must be a citizen of the Philippines;

(b) That he is of good moral character;

(c) That he is free from any physical and/or mental defect which will incapacitate him to render efficient service; and

(d) That he possesses the following minimum educational qualifications:

1) For teachers in the kindergarten and elementary grades, Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education (B.S.E.Ed.) or its equivalent;

2) For teachers of the secondary schools, Bachelor's degree in Education or its equivalent with a major and minor, or a Bachelor's degree in Arts or Sciences with at least eighteen units in professional education; and

3) For teachers of secondary vocational and two-year technical courses, Bachelor's degree in the field of specialization with at least eighteen units in professional education.

All applications shall be filed with an office or offices designated by the Board, preferably the offices of the Civil Service Commission and the Department of Education and Culture.

These offices shall screen and approve such applications and issue the corresponding permits to take the examination to qualified applicants.

SECTION 7. Appointment of Examiners. — The Board shall appoint a set of examiners for every examination who are recognized authorities in teacher education, and their names shall not be disclosed until after the release of the results of the examination. They shall each receive as compensation the sum of not less than P5.00 for each examinee as may be determined by the Board but in no case shall each examiner receive more than P18,000.00 per examination. Any examiner who is in the service of the Government shall receive the compensation herein provided in addition to his salary.

SECTION 8. Scope of the Examination. — The examination shall consist of written tests, the scope of which shall be determined by the Board, taking into consideration the teaching plan of the schools legally constituted in the Philippines.

SECTION 9. Ratings in the Examination. — In order that a candidate may be deemed to have successfully passed the examinations, he must have obtained a general average of at least 70 per cent in all subjects, with no rating below 50 per cent in any subject.

SECTION 10. Report of the Results of Examination. — The examiners shall report the ratings obtained by each candidate to the Board within 150 days after the last day of the examination, unless extended by the latter.

SECTION 11. Issuance of Certificates. — Teachers who have passed examinations given by the Civil Service Commission or jointly by the Civil Service Commission and the Department of Education and Culture shall be considered as having passed the board examinations for teachers. The Board may consider their certificates of rating as certificates of eligibility or issue an entirely new certificate upon registration of the teacher and payment of the corresponding fees.

This provision shall likewise apply to those teachers who have permanent appointment under the Magna Carta For Public School Teachers and all others who may be qualified for registration as professional teachers under this Decree.

SECTION 12. Registration. — The Civil Service Commission shall, as an arm of the Board, register holders of Professional Teacher Certificate which registration shall evidence that the registrant is entitled to all the rights and privileges of a Professional Teacher until and unless the certificate is suspended or cancelled by the Board for just cause.

SECTION 13. Reissuance of Revoked Certificates and Replacement of Lost Certificates. — The Board may, for reason of equity and justice, and upon proper application therefor, issue another copy, original or duplicate, upon payment of the required fee, of a certificate which has been revoked. A new certificate to replace a lost, destroyed or mutilated certificate may be issued subject to the rules of the Board.

SECTION 14. Registration by Reciprocity. — The Civil Service Commission shall, upon approval of the Board, effect the registration, without examination, of a teacher validly registered under the laws of any foreign state or country; Provided, That the requirements for registration in said foreign state or country are substantially the same as those required and contemplated by this Decree, and the laws of such foreign state or country allow citizens of the Philippines to practice the profession on the same basis and grant the same privileges as the citizens or subjects of such foreign state or country; Provided finally, That the applicant shall submit competent and conclusive documentary evidence, confirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs, showing that his country's existing laws permit citizens of the Philippines to practice teaching profession under the rules and regulations governing citizens hereof.

SECTION 15.Prohibition. — Three years after the effectivity of this Decree, no person shall engage in teaching and/or act as a teacher as defined in this Decree, whether in the public or private elementary or secondary school, unless he is holder of a Professional Teacher Certificate or is considered a Professional Teacher under this Decree.

SECTION 16. Penal Provision. — Any person who shall practice teaching without a valid Professional Teacher Certificate, or any person presenting as his or her own the certificate of another, or any person giving any false or forged evidence in order to obtain a Professional Teacher Certificate or admission to an examination, or any person assuming himself as a registered professional teacher or any person violating any provision of this Decree shall be penalized by a fine of not less than One Thousand Pesos nor more than Five Thousand Pesos with subsidiary imprisonment or to suffer an imprisonment of not less than six months nor more than two years, or both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the Court.

SECTION 17. Repealing Clause. — All Acts, Decrees, Executive Orders, Administrative Orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Decree are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 18. Separability Clause. — In case any provision of this Decree or any portion thereof is declared unconstitutional by a competent court, other provisions shall not be affected thereby. acd

SECTION 19. Effectivity. — This Decree shall take effect January 1, 1977.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 22nd day of September, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Six.

 

			(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS President of the Philippines
	By the President:
	(Sgd.) JACOBO C. CLAVE
		Presidential Executive Assistant