As the country celebrates National Teachers’ Month from September 5 to October 5, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian vowed to pursue measures that would uphold the welfare of teachers, aside from giving them larger salaries.
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education thanked teachers for their hard work and sacrifice to ensure learning continuity despite the threat of Covid-19.
Since teachers are among the most important factors in children’s learning, Gatchalian emphasized the need to raise teachers’ morale and to keep them motivated.
Gatchalian ’s topmost priority measure in the current 19th Congress is the Teacher Salary Increase Act (Senate Bill No. 149), which seeks to increase the salary grades (SG) of Teacher I from SG 11 with a salary of P25,439, to SG 13 with a salary of P29,798; Teacher II from SG 12 (P27,608) to SG 14 (P32,321); and Teacher III from SG 13 (P29,798) to SG 15 (P35,097).
The lawmaker has been pointing out that when it comes to salaries, Filipino teachers have been left behind by their peers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.
In Singapore, for example, the average monthly entry-level salary of teachers is P51,820, the highest in ASEAN. In Malaysia, the average monthly entry-level teacher salary is P44,607.
Aside from raising teacher salaries, Gatchalian also reiterated his call for the full implementation of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (Republic Act No. 4670).
Before the close of the 18th Congress, Gatchalian reported the basic education panel’s findings on the implementation of the 56-year-old law.
Among Gatchalian’s recommendations was to decongest teachers’ workload so they could allocate more time for actual teaching.
In the long run, Gatchalian eyes having enough non-teaching personnel in all schools.
Gatchalian also highlighted the need to ensure adequate health insurance for teachers.
He cited a proposal from the Government Service and Insurance System (GSIS), which showed that for a premium of P400 per teacher, DepEd personnel would each enjoy coverage of up to P120,000.
Subsidizing these premiums would cost P369.8 million, a reasonable amount according to Gatchalian.
Gatchalian said he also plans to file a bill that would amend the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers and make it more responsive to present-day challenges.