YES MADAM SECRETARY,
TEACHERS ARE UNDERPAID AND UNDERAPPRECIATED
(In response to Secretary Briones’ statement)
Madam Secretary, with due respect, you got the wrong perception.
Yes, public school teachers are underpaid and underappreciated and you cannot just cite the 'migration' of private school teachers to public school system to prove your theory. The type of private schools that you are talking about are mostly violating the labor laws by giving their teachers heavy workloads yet very low salaries and almost no chance for job security, which of course, worse than the situation in public schools.
The entry-level basic salary is only P19, 600 subject to mandatory deductions. Allowances on top of it are also being paid to all government workers, not exclusively for teacher. We seem to have 'two month-paid summer vacation leave' but most of the time, these days are also consumed for our school tasks- closing activities in April and preparation for school opening in May. And may we remind you that unlike all other civil servants, teachers are teachers 24/7, the work does not stop when the bell rang. We take our tasks home, beyond 6 or 8 hours. And again, unlike other government workers, we are not entitled to sick or vacation leave. The two month-vacation myth is not even a salary, it is called proportional vacation pay and will be reduced every time we failed to report to work any day from June 1 to March 30, even for a valid reason of health.
The still unaccounted missing teachers in Marawi and the trauma that our colleagues have experienced in Pigkawayan are but a few examples that teachers, like soldiers, policemen and nurses are also in the frontlines during the calamities, even in armed conflicts.
Madam secretary, since the very first that you sit as the Secretary of Education, we anticipate reforms in the department and in the entire education sector. And to give you an idea, the single most important reform that you can bring is to make the lives of teachers better. No education reform initiative could reach its goals if we will not put the welfare of teachers in paramount consideration.
Yes madam, we, your public school teachers are underpaid and underappreciated.
Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC)
June 22, 2017
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Reference:
Benjo Basas
