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Teachers give Inday Sara a 'passing grade' in her first 100 days as DepED secretary
Teachers give Inday Sara a 'passing grade' in her first 100 days as DepED secretary
Vice President Sara Duterte, who serves as the Department of Education (DepEd) secretary in a concurrent capacity, received a passing mark from teachers for her performance during her first 100 days in office.
The Teachers' Dignity Coalition (TDC), in a statement issued Sunday, Oct. 9, said that while it may be “too early” to grade Duterte as the head of the government’s largest bureaucracy, her performance --- so far --- deserves a passing mark.
“The return of face-to-face classes, although there are many things that need to be addressed, for us is a big accomplishment of Sec. Inday Sara,” TDC National Chairperson Benjo Basas said in a mix of English and Filipino.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/10/07/deped-cites-major-accomplishments-in-first-100-days-under-vp-secretary-sara/
While the return of in-person classes may help in the recovery of learning losses brought about by the pandemic, TDC said that DepED --- under the leadership of Duterte --- should begin to immediately respond to the needs of the education sector, especially teachers.
Since the opening of classes on Aug. 22, Basas pointed out that both teachers and learners have been encountering a lot of challenges such as the lack of education resources like classrooms as well as teachers which have resulted in a heavy workload.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/09/07/teachers-to-deped-expect-more-problems-to-arise-this-school-year/
While TDC acknowledged the previous statements of the DepED regarding the hiring of new teachers and even non-teaching personnel that can help lessen their workload, Basas said that the agency must expedite these measures to address the problem of overloading teachers without corresponding compensation.
“When it comes to teachers' welfare, there is still a lot that needs to fixed by DepED mainly in the position of the Secretary regarding the salary increase which should be her priority,” Basas said.
In the previous budget hearing in Congress, Duterte noted that the increase in the salary of public school teachers “may be bad” for the private school system. TDC expressed hope that Duterte will reconsider her earlier statement.
For TDC, the condition of private schools should not be a reason to stop the salary increase for public school teachers. Instead, the government should protect the welfare of private schools.
“Teachers have been asking for a salary increase for a very long time and those running for election always promise it, but until now it has not been realized,” Basas said.
TDC noted that even President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, when he was still a Senator, proposed the salary upgrading of public school teachers twice. “Now that he is president, he can definitely do it but he only declared it as an urgent bill,” Basas said.
Aside from the salary increase, TDC urged Durterte to respond to their call to fix the problems encountered by teachers in the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) or create their insurance system in DepEd.
TDC also asked Duterte to give her stand on the implementation of the provisions of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers; provision of other benefits such as housing, health, and scholarship; adjustment of merit and promotion system; providing internet and communication allowance and free laptops to all teachers; and other proposals for the education sector and teachers' welfare.
TDC has already submitted its 13-Point Teachers' Dignity Agenda which contains these proposals to Duterte.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/06/19/wish-list-what-teachers-want-from-incoming-deped-secretary-sara-duterte/
Given this, TDC reiterated its willingness to hold more open dialogues between teachers and the DepEd leadership to continuously identify and address their concerns.