MANILA (UPDATE) — A group of education workers is asking lawmakers from the House of Representatives to provide internet subsidy for public school teachers through the P405.6-billion Bayanihan 3 bill.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) submitted Wednesday a petition letter to several congressmen, asking for a P1,500 per month internet allowance for public school teachers under the proposed stimulus package to combat the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The petition, signed by over 17,300 teachers, was addressed to House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, House appropriations committee chairman Rep. Eric Go Yap, and Bayanihan 3 principal author Rep. Stella Quimbo.

"Our teachers have been shouldering the burdensome operation expenses of distance learning," ACT said in its letter.

"Current government efforts to ease teachers of these financial burdens are evidently insufficient," it said.

ACT said providing P1,500 internet allowance to around a million teachers for 7 months, or from June to December this year, would cost P10.5 billion.

Teachers have incurred internet expenses with the shift to distance learning, where students learn from their homes through modules, online classes, television and radio. In-person classes were banned beginning last year due to the threat of the respiratory illness.

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Last week, the Department of Education announced it was procuring internet load that would provide 30 to 35 gigabytes worth of data per month to public school teachers.

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