Instead of splitting the release of their salaries, a group on Monday, Nov. 8 urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to work on the “real issue” --- the pay hike for teachers.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said this after DepEd announced its plan to release teachers’ pay every 15th and 30th of the month instead of only every 21st.

“Splitting the release of our salaries does little to help teachers as it doesn’t resolve the age-old issue of poor pay among grappling educators that have long denied them decent standards of living and due recognition for their contribution to national development,” said called ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio.

ACT reiterated its call for the government to “correct” teachers’ pay by raising it from Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 15.

“Teachers remain to be the lowest paid professional in the country,” Basilio said. “It’s time to address this injustice,” he added.

ACT said that according to Undersecretary for finance Annalyn Sevilla, the effort is part of helping teachers in their “personal financial management” and keep them from being “compelled to take out loans.”

However, the group argued that at the root of these issues is the “low salaries” that are not commensurate to the needs of teachers and their families and to the indispensable role of teachers in delivering education to millions of youth.

“Teachers’ economic hardships stem from the very basic problem of low salaries,” Basilio said. “It’s well-known how teachers struggle to feed their families and shoulder the costs of education even before the pandemic hit,” he added.

Basilio said that teachers have long suffered the effects of poor support from the government and rising prices of goods and commodities, which only worsened amid the health and socio-economic crises. “These are what compels them to turn to debts,” he stressed.

ACT said that among President Duterte’s campaign promises were to double teachers’ salaries -- which he repeated several times after being elected in office.

However, ACT said that only cops and soldiers’ pay were doubled to at least P29,668 while teachers were only given around P1,500 annual increase through the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) V.

The nurses, on the other hand, received a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court in 2019 which raised their entry-level pay to salary grade 15—coming to a monthly P33,575 in 2021.

ACT said that these effectively left teachers behind as they only receive P23,877 in salaries per month in 2021.

“With DepEd’s acknowledgment that teachers in fact struggle financially, we urge them to join us in demanding the long overdue pay hike for nearly a million of its employees,” Basilio said.

He noted that teachers “deserve decent pay,” thus, the government should upgrade teachers’ salaries to Salary Grade 15.”

READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2021/06/21/deped-eyes-twice-a-month-salary-release-for-teachers-other-personnel/