Free legal aid: a big boost in teacher morale

commends Education Secretary Sonny Angara for the Department of Education’s partnership with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to provide free legal aid and assistance to public school teachers and administrative staff. This is consistent with the right to free legal services guaranteed by the Education Act, or Batas Pambansa Bilang 232, to public school employees charged in administrative, civil or criminal proceedings by parties other than the department itself for acts committed directly in the school in the lawful exercise of professional duties or defending school policy. The role of teachers in the lives of students cannot be overestimated and hence the need to preserve it. In fact, teachers and school staff are recognized by law as persons in authority when exercising lawful duties and responsibilities and are therefore entitled to due respect and protection. Any person or persons who use force or intimidation or attack or seriously intimidate school staff in the performance or performance of their official duties shall be liable for the offense of direct assault under the Revised Penal Code. This was further reinforced in the case of People v. Balbar, where the Supreme Court held that teachers being in a position of authority is a matter of law, not fact, and therefore their ignorance cannot exempt them from the crime of direct assault. That’s how important teachers are!

Legal aid available to the roughly 800,000 public school teachers would be a major morale booster, especially where some parents have misused the promotion of child protection by repeatedly bringing baseless allegations of child abuse against helpless public school teachers whose role in disciplining children has always been unpopular. Certainly, legal assistance from the IBP would increase the awareness of both teachers and parents about the scope of their in loco parentis power to discipline children in school, as well as their limitations and culpability under various laws.

Teachers also need legal assistance and protection in exercising their academic freedom. Teachers’ individual academic freedom is defined in case law as the right of an accredited educator, as a teacher and researcher, to interpret his or her findings and communicate his or her conclusions without being subjected to any undue interference, harassment or punishment because those conclusions are unacceptable to any established authority. within or outside the institution. Academic freedom provides the teacher with the greatest freedom to innovate and experiment in the teaching methods that are most appropriate for his or her students, subject to ethical, reasonable and legal boundaries.

Moreover, teachers, like all citizens, are guaranteed constitutional freedom of speech and expression. As the landmark case of Tinker v. Des Moines Community School District reminds us, teachers do not give up their constitutional rights to free speech and expression outside the school gates. They have the right to freely express their opinions and suggestions and to effective channels of communication with the appropriate academic and administrative bodies of the school or institution. They do not give up their basic rights as a person just because they engage in the practice of teaching. For this reason, IBP legal assistance would be able to indicate to our teachers the scope of this freedom, as well as its limitations. As, for example, in De la Cruz v. Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court held that the right of public school teachers to peacefully assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances is beyond reasonable limits when they organize mass protests on regular school days, due to which they made unexcused and unilateral absences and disrupted classes in various schools, which had an adverse impact on students for whose education teachers were responsible.

IBP legal assistance is also timely as teachers prepare for their role in the upcoming elections. Although teachers, as part of their constitutional duty, continue to inculcate patriotism and nationalism and teach students the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, the law and relevant Comelec and civil service policies prohibit them from engaging in political speeches, election campaigns, and partisan political activities.

In addition to legal problems at work, many public school teachers face personal problems, including loans, land disputes, domestic problems, and injustice, but cannot afford to hire their own lawyer. The legal assistance of IBP lawyers certainly dispelled many of their fears and worries.

Indeed, for institutionalizing legal aid with the IBP, in addition to many new initiatives at the Department of Education, Secretary Angara continues to earn praise from the entire education sector, both public and private, as their unanimous choice to lead the Department of Education after the departure of the Vice President.

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