Pay hike for public school teachers may lead to private school closures: VP Duterte

MANILA — Jacking up the salaries of public school teachers may cause the closure of more private schools, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte told the House Appropriations Committee during her agency's budget briefing on Wednesday.

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Responding to ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, Duterte recalled her conversation with Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, who, according to her, thinks that the standard for salaries should be the private sector's.

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"Clearly, we see there that there is a wide disparity between the salaries of teachers in private schools. And the secretary of Labor and Employment is of the opinion that the market standard for salaries is the private sector," Duterte said.

According to her, increasing the pay of public school teachers "will put undue pressure in the private educational institution... creating a migration of teachers from the private schools to the public schools which we actually see now."

"This will force more closures on private schools dahil ang market standard po dapat ay ang sweldo sa private schools, private education," Duterte said.

Castro was unimpressed, and insisted that instead of comparing the salaries of government educators with their private sector counterparts, salaries should be benchmarked against inflation and cost of living.

Duterte said she will endorse the matter to the Department of Budget and Management.

"We take note of your comments. We will endorse that to the DBM, which decides on the salaries of government employees," she said.

Earlier in the briefing, Duterte asked legislators to think of ways to help the private schools as more and more are closing.

"While public schools continue to increase during the pandemic, private schools continue to decline," she said.

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