A group of teachers has called on the Department of Education (DepEd) to provide them with Internet load allowance to “offset” their expenses for online classes.
Raymond Basilio, secretary-general of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), said teachers are going the extra mile just to be able to push through with their online classes despite the “lack of support” from DepEd.
“Kaya nga sinusulong natin na magkaroon ng Internet allowance ang ating mga teachers para ma-offset itong gastusin ng kanilang naidadagdag sa kanilang pang araw araw na gastusin (That’s why we are pushing for teachers to have an Internet allowance to offset their expenses for online classes),” Basilio told DZMM Teleradyo.
According to Basilio, DepEd has mentioned that schools can use their communications allocation for the internet allowance of their teachers.
However, Basilio said DepEd should release an official order on the matter authorizing school heads to use the allocation from their funds.
The ACT secretary-general also said that not all schools have a huge allocation which can be diverted for the Internet allowance of teachers.
“Paano yung malilit na eskwelahan na walang pondo na maaring i-divert para dito? Kaya kailangan po magkaroon ng malinaw na polisiya (How about the small schools which have no funds to divert for the load allowance? That’s why we need to have a clear policy on this),” he said.
Eden Enoch, a Grade 7 teacher at Rajah Soliman Science and Technology High School, also called on the government to support teachers with their finances.
“Di naman po kami umaayaw sa mga pagbabagong nagaganap sa sistema ng edukasyon. Subalit, nais po naming iparating din naman na dapat ay masuportahan ang mga pangangailan ng mga guro (Teachers are not against changes being done in the education system but we would need support in order to cope with these changes),” Enoch told DZMM in an interview.
“Unang una, sa kuryente namin. Sa totoo lang, nakakadagdag po talaga sa bills, ang pag papaload, pag bayad ng Internet. So, marami pong bagay na nakadagdag suliranin (Added electricity bill, internet load, these are just few problems we have to face),” she added.
Despite the difficulties, Enoch said teachers will always do their best to make sure that students get the education they deserve.
First day of classes woes
Basilio said Internet connectivity was among the main problems faced by teachers and students during the first day of online classes on Monday.
The ACT secretary general said even in the National Capital Region (NCR), where Internet and access to sources are relatively better, teachers faced connectivity issues.
“Kahapon, nagulat tayo na sa NCR mismo, ang daming mga bata na di makapasok sa kanilang mga online classrooms, ang daming mga teachers din na hirap humanap ng connection sa kanilang online classrooms (We were shocked to find out that even in the NCR, there were students and teachers who had trouble accessing their online classrooms due to poor Internet connectivity),” he said.
Enoch said attendance in some of her classes was very low.
In one of the ten sections that she handles, Enoch said only 20 out of 45 were able to attend their classes.
Enoch also said that some of her students were not able to attend online classes because of lack of gadgets and knowledge on how to use the gadgets.