“We will not be able to propel education recovery without resolving the teachers’ problems on overwork, low salaries and lack of government support. We will not be able to negate the impacts of the pandemic to education if the government does not effect bold and game-changing measures that can alter the course of our declining educational system.”
ACT Teachers, on World Teachers’ Day
“The Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND) is one with thousands of Filipino teachers who bear the brunt of misallocated education funds, budget cuts, and witch hunts. We remain overworked, underpaid, and even policed as the education sector is told to ease back to pre-pandemic conditions, without considering the terms of #LigtasNaBalikEskwela.”
CONTEND UP, on World Teachers’ Day
World Teachers’ Day was welcomed by a protest conducted by teachers’ rights and sectoral groups, highlighting the plight of public educators, especially clamoring for salary increase and a safe, inclusive, and pro-people return to campuses, which they say is not a priority under the Marcos presidency.
Teachers rallied yesterday in front of Mendiola, marching from Morayta to Chino Roces Bridge, to protest against the recent budget cuts experienced by the educational sector. Among the calls emphasized is the sector’s demand to upgrade the current Salary Grade 11 (P22,316) to Salary Grade 15 (P35,097) as more Filipinos raise concern with rising prices of commodities.
Given the dire economic crisis in the country, teachers are burdened with additional expenses, which include high internet and transportation costs alongside the rapidly increasing prices of basic necessities. Their conditions are further aggravated by the insufficiency of their wages. In a PulseAsia survey, 50% agreed that the salary grade of teachers is much less than what they should be receiving comparably with the controversial wage hikes among state security forces.
Teachers have also been targets of red-tagging and arrests during the pandemic because of their protests for a higher salary and other demands. In a statement, education secretary and Vice President Sara Duterte claimed that “if the government continues to increase the salaries of teachers in the government sector, this will put undue pressure on the private educational institution. Thus, creating a mass migration of teachers from the private schools to the public schools, which we actually see now.”
However, ACT PH’s Representative France Castro countered that “ a substantial salary increase for teachers in the private sector is long overdue. Salaries of public school teachers should set the standard for salaries in the private school, not the other way around,” and that she had heard Duterte’s echoed argument from past administrations who also refused a salary increase for teachers.
Along with the OVP’s wage increase refusal, there is a call to question the amount of confidential funds both the Office of the Vice President, and the Department of Education (DepEd) currently proposes: P500 million for the former, and P150 million for the latter. Considering the substantial proposed budget cut faced by the State Universities and Colleges and the Department of Education in 2023, these confidential funds are scrutinized in light of the prevalence of corruption and red-tagging conducted by the Philippine government itself.|
Makabayan bloc representatives and groups slammed the P150 million confidential funds by DepEd, which is even higher than the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA). They said that confidential and intelligence funds should be rechanelled to social services spending.
Moreover, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) reiterated that #LigtasNaBalikEskwela must be prioritized by the government after the shutting down of physical classes for two years. They highlighted safe and inclusive measures as crucial to an effective return to schools, as well as the call for appropriate funding for this to be achieved.
The Philippines is one of the last countries to open its schools during the pandemic and allotted significantly less for primary education spending than its counterparts in the East Asia-Pacific region and among lower middle-income countries, according to the World Bank.
They also warned the government of the need to “effect game changing measures” to reverse the impacts of the pandemic on Philippine education and the current education crisis. A World Bank report said that 90% of Filipino primary learners are experiencing learning poverty and learning deprivation due to established educational inequalities and degradation in the quality of education over the last two years.
Likewise, CONTEND-UP echoed ACT’s demands, begging the question, “Just what kind of students would we have under the tutelage of teachers who are overworked, underpaid, and red-tagged?”
Deped’s proposed P90 billion budget deficit in 2023 highlights the precarious and dark reality of education in the Philippines—indicating a future that does not have the appropriate funds for #LigtasNaBalikEskwela, upgraded salaries, the mitigation of educational inequalities, better environment for both teaching and learning, and resolving the longstanding education crisis.
READ: https://tinyurl.com/28uvvp2n
As the future of education plunges further into the depths of the crisis, ACT Philippines and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro vows to continue the protest against the administrative forces led by Marcos and Duterte that threaten the causes they stand for, “to address the worsening learning crisis in the country,” and to investigate and call for proper budget prioritization and allocation, especially for education in the basic and higher levels.
Featured image courtesy of ACT Teachers and CONTEND UP
