By Merlina Hernando-Malipot
The Department of Education (DepEd) is set to release a cash allowance amounting to P3,500 per classroom teacher by next month.
DepEd Undersecretary for Finance Annalyn Sevilla, in a memorandum dated May 4 addressed to regional directors, schools division superintendents, heads of finance divisions/units and all others concerned, issued an advisory on the release and payment of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Cash Allowance to teachers.
(Jojo Riñoza / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
In the said advisory, Sevilla said that the P3,500 cash allowance per classroom teacher will be released for the “purchase of teaching supplies and materials” for the School Year (SY) 2020-2021.
“The P3,500 cash allowance shall be released to teachers in June 2020,” Sevilla said in the memorandum. DepEd Regional Offices (ROs), she added, “must ensure that the allotment shall be released to Schools Division Offices (SDOs) on or before May 15, 2020.”
Sevilla noted that the “it is expected that DepEd ROs and SDOs shall have the cash allocation ready for the payment of the cash allowance” and that such is included in the 2nd Quarter Notice of Cash Allocation and Monthly Disbursement Plan by coordinating with its respective Department of Budget and Management regional offices.
The DepEd Central Office, Sevilla added, is also set to release a “separate policy guidelines” on the grant of Cash Allowance to Teachers to “include teaching supplies and materials related to the preparations to the shift to the Learning Continuity Plan” - as among the allowable uses of the cash allowance for teachers.
Due to the continued threat of COVID-19, DepEd has moved the school opening from June to August this coming school year. Classes in public schools, as earlier announced by Education Secretary Leonor Briones, is expected to open on August 24 to given ample time to schools, teachers and learners to prepare for the “new normal” in education.
As as response to the COVID-19-related disruptions in education, DepEd has developed a Learning Continuity Plan to address emerging concerns in the basic education system - particularly on the conduct of classes and implementation of flexible learning options that would cater to the needs of learners.
Sevilla earlier said that DepEd is reviewing and realigning its own budget to ensure that emerging needs of its personnel - both teaching and non-teaching - as well as the learners will be addressed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.