The opening of the school year for 2023-2024 saw a surge of students returning to classrooms last Tuesday, with the Department of Education (DepEd) expecting over 28 million students to attend classes in 44,931 public schools and 12,162 private schools across the country.
As the back-to-school season unfolds, familiar concerns resurface – inadequate classrooms, insufficient supplies, and a perennial issue: teachers’ salaries. Dedicated educators have long voiced their concerns about the inadequacy of their wages.
To address these pressing concerns, lawmakers, together with Camarines Sur Representatives Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata, along with the Bicol Saro partylist, have introduced House Bill (HB) 1851. This proposed legislation aims to significantly raise the salary grade levels of public elementary and high school teachers, ranging from Grade 11 to Grade 19. The primary goal is to assist teachers in coping with the ever-increasing cost of living.
In addition to this, HB 1849 has been drafted, seeking to make the P5,000 school supplies allowance, which was initially provided to public school teachers during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, a permanent fixture. This allowance was crucial in preventing teachers from dipping into their personal funds to meet the needs of the new hybrid learning system, remote, and online teaching.
These twin proposals aim to raise salaries and institutionalize the teaching supplies allowance for around 800,000 public school teachers.
With President Marcos’s directive to DepEd Secretary and Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio to explore possibilities for increasing public school teachers’ salaries beyond the annual wage increase mandated by the Salary Standardization Law (SSL), lawmakers are calling for the swift approval of these proposals.
There is a strong commitment from both legislators and the President to uplift the salaries and benefits of teachers. Despite their heavy workload and responsibilities as agents of constructive intellectual, social, cultural, political, and moral change in society, teachers are among the most underpaid workers in the Philippines.
By ensuring that teachers receive fair compensation and consistent allowances for teaching supplies, we can motivate them to excel in their teaching. Moreover, higher take-home pay and ongoing allowance increases can inspire more students to consider a career in teaching. This is vital for the future of education in the Philippines.
While there has been a decline in inflation, dropping from 8.7% in January to 4.7% in July, experts believe that Filipinos continue to feel the high prices of goods in the consumer price index (CPI).
To alleviate the impact of inflation on teachers, it is imperative to increase their salaries and allowances, especially as the prices of gasoline and diesel continue to rise on a weekly basis. This trend is leading to higher transportation costs and further increases in the prices of goods.
President Marcos remains committed to progress, emphasizing that no one should be left behind. It is, therefore, our duty to ensure that our teachers are not left behind and are included in the government’s ambitious plans.
We are determined to push forward with these proposed salary increases and allowances for teachers. We understand that they need our support during these challenging times, and we will not abandon them. Hand in hand, we are moving towards progress.
