MANILA — In response to the teachers’ group call for salary increase, the Department of Education (DepEd) has reiterated its support on the increase of benefits and salaries of one of the most noble professions in the country.
In an interview with the Philippines News Agency, DepEd Assistant Secretary Toni Umali underscored the need for a meaningful discussion with the teachers’ group led by Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) regarding their concerns as he said that DepEd is one with them who is also pushing for the betterment of the teachers’ condition.
“We could address this by talking and exploring ways and means how to make this a reality. We need to have a full discussion on this because when we talk about teachers’ salaries increase we have to see the present situation which is we have the Salary Standardization Law. The position of DepEd is we support all legislations that will increase the benefits of our teachers,” Umali explained.
The last tranche of government employee’s salary increase under Salary Standardization Law was released on June 1, 2012 which automatically increased the salary of teachers to Php18,549 per month for Salary Grade 11 from the usual entry level of Php10,000 to Php12,000, Umali noted.
“When we say we want to increase the salary of our teachers, that should mean increasing those who are in Salary Grade 12. I’m stating what is very, very obvious. It’s not normal to have a higher salary for Salary Grade 11 than those in Salary Grade 12. That is why it is standardized. We cannot have a salary way higher for Salary Grade 11 among Salary Grade 12 recipients,” he explained.
He further cited reasons as to why teachers in public school are better off in terms of benefits and salaries as compared to private school teachers.
The standard teachers’ salary amounting to Php18,000 is higher than those teachers in private schools earning a lesser amount ranging to Php8,000 to Php12,000, Umali explained.
As such, the DepEd official said there has been a migration of teachers to public schools as private school teachers see better opportunities offered to public school teachers.
Another improvement in the teachers’ benefits which Umali has shared is the “regularization of almost all our LGU-paid teachers.”
Umali said these teachers who were used to getting paid at a rate of Php7,000 to Php8,000 are now receiving the entry level of Php18,549.
However, other LGU-paid teachers who are not yet passers of Licensure Exam for Teachers (LET) do not receive the same amount, Umali noted.
DepEd has been urging teachers’ group and also those concerned in the issue to not only focus on the increase of salary of a particular salary grade but also to look at the entire bureaucracy.
“In other words, the way to handle this is to look as a whole, the whole bureaucracy. When we talk about resources to increase the salaries of teachers, we should talk about increasing the salaries of all government employees,” he said.