President Marcos has signed into law the "Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act" that provides public teachers additional teaching allowance from P5,000 to P10,000.
Marcos signed the "Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act" or Republic Act (RA) 11997, which he labeled as "a significant milestone" for Philippine education, on Monday, June 3 in a ceremony in Malacañan.
"We mark today a significant milestone for Philippine education as we sign the Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act. Since the start of my term, I have placed great emphasis on the need to bolster the educational system and the urgency with which this should be done," Marcos said in his speech.
The new law doubles public teachers' annual teaching allowance from P5,000 to P10,000, providing additional funds to assist them with expenses related to blended learning including internet, electricity and essential devices like laptops.
According to Malacañang, historically, public school teachers' allowances have increased incrementally from P100 in 1988 to P5,000 by 2021.
Marcos said teachers have been carrying the burden to spend their own money in providing materials to aid them in teaching while trying to increase the support that they can provide their families.
"I think we're all familiar with the situation when a teacher finds themselves in financial straits then sometimes they're distracted and spend their time trying to increase the support that they can provide their families and to the detriment of the actual teaching. But teachers teach because it is a vocation. It is not a job, it is a vocation," Marcos said.
"Teachers teach because they feel they have to teach and they want to teach and that's why we must give them the support so that they are allowed to do precisely that," he added.
The President said the increase in teaching allowance "makes an enormous difference" for both the teachers and their students.
"For decades, they have willingly taken on the burden of having to spend their own money on classroom supplies to aid them in teaching. They embrace this wholeheartedly as their responsibility as part of their duty as teachers, as part of their vocation," Marcos said.
"It must take an incredible amount of love to sacrifice what little you have for the sake of your students despite having financial worries of your own. With the passage of this law, we are easing some of the burden that you carry each day," he added.
Marcos further said that it is the responsibility of the government to take care of them so that they can focus "on doing what is best for themselves and for their families, for their communities, and thereby for their country."
He also assured teachers that the passage of the new law "is just the beginning of all that we wish to accomplish for you and for our country."
Under the law, the teaching allowance will be P10,000 per teacher for the 2025-2026 school year and subsequent years. The Act also explicitly exempts the teaching allowance from income tax.
The initial amount necessary for the implementation of the law shall be charged against the current budget of the Department of Education (DepEd).