DAVAO CITY, Philippines – ACT Teachers Party-list wasted no time on the first day of the 20th Congress as they secured agreements with the Department of Education to increase allowances for public school teachers across the country.
The party-list announced through their social media page that the meeting between ACT Representative Antonio Tinio and Education Secretary Edgardo ‘Sonny” Angara last June 30 resulted to the granting of policy changes to benefit the teachers.
Among the key agreements is the granting of the ?7,000 medical allowance in cash, previously restricted to use for Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) coverage.
“All government employees will receive the ?7,000 medical allowance,” Tinio confirmed. “What the teachers want is to receive it in cash. There is an agreement that it can be received in cash, as long as certain requirements are complied with.”
Another benefit gained in the dialogue was the increase in teaching supplies allowance now at ?10,000 plus provision of school supplies. Tinio said this benefits the teachers as they usual cover the purchase of school materials
DepEd also approved to revert the length of class period from 45 minutes back to one hour.
“Well, in the field, the teachers themselves are saying that the 45 minutes allotted for one lesson isn’t realistic,” Tinio said. “You can barely teach anything. Just checking attendance already takes up your time.”
Tinio explained that the 45-minute limit introduced under the Matatag curriculum left little time for meaningful learning. He said that reverting to one-hour classes would allow more time for actual teaching in each subject and noted that having fewer classes per day would help reduce the overall workload for teachers.
DepEd also agreed to make the National Qualifying Examination for School Heads (NQESH) non-mandatory and would be one of the criteria for the selection of principal.
Tinio said the previous mandatory rule has led to few candidates for principals to pass the exam, leading to a shortage. He also noted that “teachers-in-charge”, a role that is equivalent to a principal but not given recognition, will be given due credit.
The party-list also secured a commitment that there will be no assignment of master teachers to teach Kinder to Grade 3 or Key Stage 1 unless they are qualified and experienced in childhood education. Past experience showed “traumatic” experiences of master teachers being “thrown into teaching kindergarten” without proper preparation or specialization.
ACT Teachers also filed ten priority bills on their first day back in Congress. These include a ?1,200 living wage bill for all workers, the ?50,000 entry-level salary for teachers’ bill, and measures on universal healthcare, agrarian reform, and anti-political dynasty policies.
ACT Teachers have been elected to Congress since 2010 and have since pushed for reforms and advocacies for teachers’ welfare and unionism. It has also stood for human rights and justice concerns.
Tinio is a returning congressman for ACT Teachers, having served from 2010 to 2019 and at one time served as Deputy House Minority Floor Leader.(davaotoday.com)
