Aquino to teachers: You give time, sweat, even your lives

ONLY ONE classroom was built last year at Taal High School in Bocaue, Bulacan, where up to 75 students have to squeeze into a room in each of two shifts.

Despite the shortage of classrooms in her school, Principal Teresita de Martin gained new hope upon hearing President Benigno Aquino III’s promise of more investments in education in marking World Teachers’ Day yesterday.

“We are so thankful for that, especially when it materializes. And we are so hopeful that it can be done for the sake of our students,” De Martin told the Inquirer on the sidelines of the Teachers’ Day celebration at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

“Government gives us support but not immediately, maybe because there are also so many schools,” she said.

At PhilSports Arena, the President vowed substantial spending for the training of teachers and construction of classrooms.

“You give your time, sweat and, at times, even your blood and lives, in performing your duties as a sign that you love your job and as a partner in promoting our objective of genuine change,” Mr. Aquino said before some 5,000 teachers.

He said his administration inherited many problems in the education sector but added that he would address these issues.

“Foremost in our government’s program is the improvement in the quality of education in the country,” he said.

Mr. Aquino noted that his proposed national budget for 2011 contained substantial allocations for the training of teachers, the construction of classrooms and the adoption of other education programs.

Access to private schools

He said the Department of Education (DepEd) had identified areas that need more classrooms.

The President also said that the government would improve access to private schools through the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education.

The program gives financial assistance to poor students so they can study in private schools and decongest public schools.

Recalling his campaign promise of eradicating corruption, Mr. Aquino said there would be no need for teachers to make more sacrifices if the funds meant for education were not diverted to selfish interests.

Lack of focus

Rep. Antonio Tinio of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers found Mr. Aquino’s remarks wanting.

“President Aquino did not say much in his speech. What teachers were waiting for were remarks about their salaries, their problems at the GSIS (Government Service Insurance System), which he knows about,” Tinio said.

He said the President failed to establish his administration’s focus on education. The DepEd-proposed P207-billion budget, for instance, falls short in addressing critical shortages in the education system, according to the party-list lawmaker.

“We did not see that he was giving priority to education needs. Only a fraction of [the needs] would be funded by the 2011 budget. You also won’t see, at that rate, how [they will] address the resource shortages within the term of administration,” said Tinio.

Street protest

Amid heavy security, about 30 student activists staged a protest near PhilSports and called for a higher education budget and the scrapping of government’s plan to add two years to the 10-year basic education.

Tempers momentarily flared when members of the League of Filipino Students marched near the arena an hour after the President had left.

The protesters, among them students in uniform, were slowly pushed back by a thick wall of police dispersal officers by noon.

“Just stay in school so you’d finish,” a police officer said in jest.

Among the lowest-paid

In the Senate, two lawmakers batted for higher pay for teachers, among the lowest-paid in the region.

“Despite the enormity of their tasks, the hard reality is that our Filipino teachers are heavily underpaid, compared with their counterparts in neighboring countries, and, even among our own public servants,” Sen. Loren Legarda said in a privilege speech.

A Filipino teacher has a starting salary of P14,000, including allowances, compared with an entry-level teacher in Singapore (SGD$2,600 or P122,400), in Japan (JY156,500 or P77,889) and in Malaysia (RM1,300 or P17,806), according to Legarda.

Grade 20

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, in a statement, batted for a doubling of the paychecks of public school teachers for elementary and high school from salary Grade 10 to salary Grade 20. This would increase their basic pay from P8,600 a month to P29,052.

Trillanes proposed that any salary adjustments should be based on the teacher’s qualification and length of service.

Legarda said teachers also deserved an increase in nonwage benefits and continual training so that they can fulfill their duty as the “surrogate parents” of the youth.

She considered the P862 million allocated by the DepEd for teacher-training programs as miniscule compared with the agency’s proposed P207-billion budget in 2011.

Problems with GSIS

Aside from low pay, Legarda said public school teachers were being unduly burdened by the GSIS’ refusal to honor the P6 billion in payments they made in their individual accounts, an issue which has delayed their ability to avail themselves of their benefits.

She said the teachers complained about unexplained deductions in the maturity claims or retirement lump sum of members; unexplained deductions in their salary loans; nonpayment of dividends to members; nondeduction of loan payments; deductions of loan payments even if the loan had been paid; and nonpayment of funeral benefits and education plans.

Election honoraria

If he had his way, Commission on Elections Chair Jose Melo would grant teachers better pay when they performed election duties.

Melo said he particularly supported increasing the honoraria for those serving as members of the Board of Election Tellers (BETs) in the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections on Oct. 25.

“That seems reasonable to me. I hoped it would have been like what happened during the May 10 (elections),” Melo said in an interview with reporters.

However, the Comelec chief said the election body could not unilaterally increase the honoraria for teachers because it was the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) that set the allocation for them.

“What was proposed by DBM is not enough. It’s just P1,000 (per day),” Melo said, adding that they would ask DBM to increase the teacher’s pay.

Melo made his comments after the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition appealed to the Comelec to increase the honoraria from the current P2,000 for two days of election work.