A teachers group asked the Department of Education (DepEd) to reconsider the conduct of the virtual In-Service Training (INSET) training for the teaching personnel scheduled next week.

Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), a 30,000-strong group, urged the DepEd to rethink the week-long INSET to be held on Monday, March 15 to Friday, March 19 in consideration to the challenges faced by teachers under the new learning set-up.

TDC recommended DepEd to “forgo this INSET for now and give teachers time to breathe a little at least, while doing other paperwork.”

On March 4, DepEd released a memorandum on the conduct of virtual INSET for public school teachers signed by Undersecretary Alain Pascua.

TDC noted that as DepEd gears up for the up for the INSET, teachers were not consulted on the said activity.

The group noted that this year’s INSET will be “an entire week of 8-hour trainings via YouTube - it is going to be on IT, video editing, poster design, Google workplace, and so on.”

TDC alleged that “as usual, no consultation with teachers’ organizations was made.” The group also noted that had substantial consultation been conducted, the DepEd Central Office would have understood that most students are on Modular Distance Learning because online learning is “simply inaccessible” to most of them for financial reason as well the country’s internet infrastructure (bandwidth/speed) is just “inadequate.”

The group also pointed out that there are also teachers who have yet to “recover from the torturous ordeal they just went through en masse brought about by this pandemic.”

With too much paperwork yet to be done, TDC noted that even without the planned INSET, teachers will be busy for weeks.

“There is also a great possibility that our teachers have already been affected physically, emotionally, psychologically, and mentally,” the group added.

Given this, TDC asked DepEd if the INSET must be done at this time. “Are there no better ways to acquire these knowledge and skills, methods that will not burden teachers to snapping point?” the group noted.

TDC also asked DepEd “how urgent are these skills on video editing, poster design and so on and why must all teachers go through this.”

As the group urged DepEd to reconsider the conduct of this year’s INSET, TDC asked the agency to “give better efforts at providing for internet expenses of teachers” instead.

In particular, TDC pointed out that the P300 monthly reimbursement for communication expenses is not enough as Internet connection exceeds P1,000 a month.

The said reimbursement, the group added, “have yet to be realized in many schools - which is long overdue for proper setting of priorities.”