A federation of teachers on Friday underscored the need for a supplemental budget to help ensure school opening - which was postponed twice already - will push through on Oct. 5.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines, in a statement, maintained the Bicam-approved education allotment under the Bayanihan to Recover as One (BARO) bill is “extremely sparse” - considering the overwhelming demands of their sector.

ACT is now calling on both chambers of Congress for a supplemental budget to address their needs.

“BARO’s meagre four-billion education provision can only cover the P1,500 per month internet allowance demand for 900,000 public school teachers from October to December,” ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio explained.

This is a huge challenge, he said, given "the modular approach entails the use of online platforms for monitoring and feed-backing."

In May, ACT has already called for the Department of Education (DepEd) to conduct testing on suspected and vulnerable cases among its personnel.

With BARO’s 25.5 billion stand-by funds, the teachers’ federation of unions pushed that teaching and non-teaching staff be finally tested for COVID-19.

“Weeks leading up to October 5, more and more teachers will add to DepEd personnel who report on-site, hence health screening and testing shall immediately be done,” Basilio said. “We expect that DepEd, along with other relevant agencies, has already started preps to facilitate this and the eventual tapping of the BARO funds for such as soon as it takes effect.”

When it comes to other education needs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, ACT urged the lower house and the Senate to pass a supplemental budget to address the shortage in resources which, the group argued, “factored greatly” in the two-time postponement of school opening.

“The government’s failure to establish measures for school safety and accessible quality education has already forced us into delaying class resumption twice and prolonged denial of the youth’s right to education,” Basiliio said. “We strongly urge the state to not let the remaining time before October 5 go to waste, heed our pressing demands.”

ACT also listed measures for school opening that urgently require supplemental funding which include ensuring school safety and health protection for education workers through regular health screening; administering RT-PCR tests on suspected cases and the vulnerable; establishing functional sanitation facilities in every basic education school and office; employment of sanitation/utility personnel; hiring of one nurse per school; establishing a functional and amply equipped clinic in every school; and distributing hygiene kits and personal protective equipment to all teachers and education support personnel.

The group is also pushing for guaranteed entitlements such as sick leave for public school teachers, hazard pay for teaching and non-teaching staff, full treatment subsidy for infected employees, and furnishing disinfection supplies/equipment for the implementation of minimum health standards, particularly for module distribution and other activities that will entail the gathering of parents and teachers at schools.

To help ensure that teachers and students will be able to adjust as the education system transitions into the New Normal, ACT is pushing for the provision of laptops, gadgets, and internet allowances for all teachers and underprivileged students as well as the production of modules to ensure 1:1 student-module ratio.