PASIG CITY, October 8, 2019 – The national celebration of the 2019 World Teachers’ Day (WTD) on October 5 culminated with the assurance of a new round of salary increase for state workers and a renewed challenge for almost 900,000 public school educators: To be the driving force of advancing the quality of basic education.
Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones made the announcement before thousands of teachers who enjoyed the festivity prepared by the Department, its partner organizations, and the Cagayan de Oro local government unit (LGU) at the Limketkai Atrium.
“But the good news comes with a challenge. As we increase the salaries and improve the terms of employment of our public school teachers, we expect our teachers to be the driving force to raise the quality of the country’s basic education,” she remarked.
Added compensation for DepEd teachers
State workers, which include public school teachers, can look forward to a new round of salary increase following the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) completion of its study on benchmarking the salaries of government personnel.
It should be emphasized that between the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) III from 2009 to 2012 and the SSL IV from 2016 to 2019, the monthly basic salary of a Teacher I has increased from P14,198 to P20,754 (noting that no SSL was implemented from 2013 to 2015).
Apart from the government-mandated compensation and benefit for all employees (which amount to a total of P27,996 per month for entry-level teachers), public school teachers receive allowance accorded only to DepEd teachers: cash allowance (P3,500/year); Proportional Vacation Pay[1] (P36,994.83 to P38,340.10 for SY 2018-2019); hardship allowance (15-25% of monthly basic salary); honoraria for teaching overload (25% of monthly basic salary); additional incentives/allowance from LGUs.
The Bicameral Committee version of the 2019 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) also includes annual medical examination (P500/year) and 2019 WTD incentive (P1,000).
Expansion of teacher positions, career growth
Recognizing the need for teachers to have improved professional growth and opportunities, DepEd is proposing to add new teaching positions of Teacher IV, Teacher V, Teacher VI, and Teacher VII with corresponding higher salary grades after the current items of Teacher I, Teacher II, and Teacher III.
“Napapansin namin at sinabi rin ng mga teacher, minsan nag-uumpisa silang Teacher I forever Teacher I na lang sila, maghihintay pa kung mayroong magre-retire. Isang proposal na ginawa ng DepEd sa DBM at sa Presidente ang dagdag na teaching positions na may katumbas na mataas na sweldo but depende sa performance. If you do well, then you go up,” Briones stated.
The Education chief therefore reminded everyone in the Department of their vital role the delivery of quality basic education – as mandated by the Constitution: “Kung mayroong asenso, mayroon ding responsibilidad.”
“There is so much work to be done. The fight for quality will require no less than a national effort, with our teachers at the forefront,” the Secretary concluded.
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[1] Varies every school year depending on the no. of school days served and holiday season vacation days