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Group calls DepEd's announcement of P1K allowance for teachers a 'pure PR stunt'
Group calls DepEd's announcement of P1K allowance for teachers a 'pure PR stunt'
The Department of Education (DepEd) was criticized by a group of education workers on Wednesday, Aug. 11, for announcing President Duterte’s approval of the release of P1,000 World Teachers Day Incentive Benefit (WTDIB).
For the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), DepEd’s move is nothing but a “pure media stunt to bolster the administration’s image amid flak that they get for the overworked, underpaid, and undersupported state of public school teachers.”
ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio said that DepEd’s announcement on release of the said incentive benefit on Aug. 10 is no news. “For our public school teachers who have long been calling for salary increase and more substantial benefits amid the gruelling distance learning, this announcement sounds desperate and pathetic,” he added.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2021/08/10/teachers-to-receive-p1k-incentive-benefit-for-world-teachers-day-deped/
The group explained that the annual P1,000 WTIB is a regular benefit that public school teachers have been receiving since 2018. Additionally, the funding for this “already included” in the 2021 General Appropriations Act.
Basilio noted that the WTDIB is the Duterte government’s response to the teacher’s resounding campaign for salary increase in 2018.
“Then, they have tried to douse the clamor of teachers for the fulfillment of the President’s promise to substantially increase teachers’ salaries through the grant of this token benefit, now they are trying to abuse it again to make it appear that they are doing something to address our plight,” he added.
Instead of such an announcement, Basilio said that teachers have been waiting for the DepEd’s action on its commitment to compensate the three-month overtime work which they have rendered in the last school year.
Teachers, he added, are also looking forward to a “better plan” to ease their internet expenses for distance learning.
“This petty announcement of an incentive in a pitiful amount means nothing to teachers, what we need is P1,500 monthly internet allowance, payment of our overtime pay, and salary levels commensurate our arduous duty,” Basilio said.