Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 26) – As far as the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) is concerned, the Marcos administration has not done much in the past year to address current issues facing the education sector.
For one, ACT said the Department of Education has yet to fulfill its promise to lessen the workload of public school teachers by hiring non-teaching personnel to take on administrative tasks.
\”Walang items na na-create for non-teaching (personnel) for the past year. So, kung may non-teaching man na pumasok sa schools, ito ay mga contractual paid under maintenance and other operating expense ng school or ng local government unit, na ibig sabihin maliit na pa-sweldo, pero hindi po ito sustainable,” ACT secretary-general Raymond Basilio said in a press conference on Monday.
[Translation: There are no items created for non-teaching personnel for the past year. So, if there are non-teaching personnel in schools, these are contractual employees paid under maintenance and other operating expenses of the school or the local government unit, which means small salaries, but it is not sustainable.]
During his campaign, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed to increase the salary of public school teachers.
The group, however, said no concrete actions have been taken yet to secure a pay hike for teachers after this year as the government implements the last tranche of salary increase for government employees, including public school teachers, under the Salary Standardization Law.
ACT Party-list Representative France Castro said there are pending measures seeking to increase the salary and benefits of teachers but none have been certified as urgent.
\”Karamihan sa amin ang daming may utang, iba nga ay nagpa-part time Grab driver na dahil sa liit ng sueldo, yung iba nagtitinda sa loob ng paaralan,” ACT chairperson Vladimir Quetua said.
[Translation: Most of us have a lot of debts, others are part-time grab drivers because of the small salaries, and others are selling within school.]
Education spokesman Michael Poa said the department is working on additional non-financial benefits for teachers, including free legal aid.
He also assures the ACT that the agency is now hiring 5,000 non-teaching personnel to help teachers with clerical tasks. Poa added the DepEd also plans to allocate funds for the same purpose next year.
“Ang hina-hire natin na admin personnel yung hiningi sa budget last year at hihingin ulit sa budget this year. Hindi po sila contractual, plantilla positions po iyan. That’s why it’s a discussion with DBM because they also create these plantilla items,” Poa explained.
[Translation: The admin personnel that we hired were funded from last year’s budget and we will ask the budget again this year. They are not contractual but plantilla positions. That’s why it’s a discussion with DBM because they also create these plantilla items.]
The group also slammed the education department for worsening conditions in public schools such as classroom congestion and lack of learning materials.
\”Yung iba sa amin 80-100 students sa isang class ang ratio at para sa atin hindi ito ligtas at hindi mabibigay ang conducive learning environment,” ACT NCR Union president Ruby Bernardo said.
