Teacher Sylvia Aquino makes last-minute preparation inside a kindergarten classroom devoid of any decoration at Pinyahan Elementary School in Quezon City on Monday, August 28, 2023. The Department of Education issued Order No. 21 mandating all public schools to ensure that school grounds, classrooms, and all other school facilities are clean from unnecessary decoration, clarifying that appropriate visual aids may be used on related topics during classes. Maria Tan ABS-CBN News
MANILA — The Department of Education (DepEd) is backing the long-proposed salary increase for teachers.
Education Undersecretary Gloria Mercado explained Wednesday that the agency was doing a study on the pay hike.
"I must admit that we will be supporting the proposal for increase, as a matter of fact we were directed by our kalihim to contract out the study which we are doing with PUP, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, we're working on the flow of salary increase based on inflation," Mercado said during the agency's budget briefing at the House Appropriations Committee.
"We used to leverage our rates with the private sector but I must say that with the diaspora of 30,000 from the private sector to our public sector, we cannot anymore make reference to the rates of the private sector," sgeadded.
Mercado noted the DepEd increased the cap for service credits of teachers.
"We actually increased the 15 days service credit to 30 for purposes of the National Learning Camp," Mercado said.
ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro wanted the cap removed.
"Itong service credit, ang mga teachers natin masisipag yan um-attend ng seminar, mag-volunteer sa brigada, sa anumang mga pinagagawa ng DepEd, pero di lang po 15 days. So sana tanggalin itong cap na ito kung maaari, kung ito ay sa civil service rule baka puwede matanggal kasi ayaw natin na tine-thank you na lang," Castro said.
(Our teachers are eager to attend seminars, volunteers for DepEd initiatives, and not just for 15 days. So I hope we could remove this cap because we don't want teachers to just be thanked for their service.)
Mercado also told Castro that the agency would address the overload pay of teachers after the lawmaker made a pitch for proportional vacation pay due to the pandemic.
Vice President Sara Duterte led the DepEd in making its pitch for a P759.59 billion budget for 2024.