A group urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to allow a teacher representation in the transition team amid the ongoing Makati-Taguig dispute.
The Teachers' Dignity Coalition (TDC), in a statement issued Friday, Aug. 18, called for a “smooth transition” of school management amid the tension between the cities of Taguig and Makati following the final Supreme Court ruling handing Taguig authority over several barangays currently administered by Makati.
Teachers of the affected schools are also in a dilemma as they wait for the situation to improve and for things to get back to normal immediately.
“We hope the two parties could have reached an agreement to restore the normal school operation,” said Noel Meneses, president of the Fort Bonifacio High School Faculty Club.
Meneses, who is also speaking on behalf of the local TDC chapter, added that since teachers are “at the frontlines in education, directly involved with learners, their parents, and the community, and thus can help the DepEd to disseminate proper information,” they also need to be informed of the situation.
TDC said that teachers are expecting normalcy in the coming days as they request the DepEd to include “teacher representatives in the transition committee even as observers.”
Meneses noted that the majority of teachers were affected by the issues confronting the school's division “particularly when the documents are immediately needed for transactions like certifications, assignment orders, permits, or loan applications that are very much needed in time for the beginning of classes.”
“We hope for an immediate resolution to this problem because the welfare of teachers and children’s education are at stake,” Meneses said.
DepEd’s intervention
TDC Chairman Benjo Benjo Basas noted the DepEd Central Office's assumption of authority over the aforementioned schools would “ease tension and open the door for more friendly talks between the two local government units.”
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“With just over a week to the opening of classes, our schools will need to make preparations, and in order to do this, teachers and other school personnel should be allowed to work, business as usual,” Basas said. “We hope that things will get better sooner,” he added.
TDC said the area houses 14 public schools involving some 1,500 teachers and 30,000 learners.
The DepEd Order No. 23, s. 2023 signed by Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte the other day places the control of 14 schools under the Office of the Secretary.
TDC noted that a subsequent reassignment order was released by Undersecretary Revsee Escobedo reshuffling the stations of four schools division superintendents in the National Capital Region (NCR) including those of Makati and Taguig-Pateros.
Duterte's order, the group added, also provided for a transition committee composed of a regional director outside NCR and the respective schools division superintendents of Makati and Taguig Pateros, as well as the city legal officers of both Makati and Taguig.