MANILA, Philippines — A teacher’s group has urged the Department of Education to provide additional compensation for public school teachers working beyond regular school days as mandated by law, saying that several school personnel remain busy even during vacation.
In a press conference on Monday, ASSERT representatives said that reverting to the old academic calendar to avoid holding classes in the summer heat would “guarantee” that teachers could enjoy a longer summer break, but those working during this time should get extra pay.
Related Stories
Reminding DepEd of the “endless” tasks teachers take during vacations, such as handling early enrollment and attending required training sessions, ASSERT Secretary-General Fidel Fababier said that teachers are not simply "paid to rest” between school years.
“DepEd is able to circumvent the provision of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers that requires an additional pay of 25% (of teachers’ regular salary) when teachers are required to work outside of school days. They do not provide that,” Fababier said in Filipino.
Fababier also claimed that the budget allocation for overtime pay in the DepEd budget is “untouched” and converted to savings every year.
The group held a press conference on Monday — the first day of this year’s Holy Week — to call attention to teacher’s “kalbaryo (plight),” which they say is a result of the government’s uneven compliance with the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers of 1996.
ASSERT highlighted the provision of the law that requires teachers to be compensated “at least twenty-five per cent of his regular remuneration” for any additional duties they take on after completing “at least six hours of actual classroom teaching a day.”
Revert to old calendar
Reports of students falling ill due to heat exhaustion in March prompted Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian to propose the return of the old academic calendar that opens classes in June and ends the school year in March.
Backing this suggestion, ASSERT representatives said this would give teachers all of April and May to enjoy their full 70 days of vacation time in between school years.
Fababier said that DepEd’s new calendar has shortened teacher’s vacation time for two consecutive school years after pandemic lockdowns delayed the school opening in 2020 for nearly five months.
“If you can remember, we have already experienced two school years where we began around August, only weeks after graduation is held in July. … We (teachers) almost do not enjoy our vacations,” Fababier said in Filipino.
After teachers compile reports, they work on Brigada Eskwela and then take charge of early enrollment, Fababier pointed out.
“Returning our vacation to April and May would guarantee that teachers enjoy a longer vacation break. It’s not easy for teachers now that they’re also making big adjustments in their teaching duties,” Fababier said.
Unlike other government workers, teachers do not get sick or vacation leaves, according to the Civil Service Commission’s omnibus rules on leave benefits. Instead, they are entitled to proportion vacation pay of 70 days of summer vacation and 14 days of Christmas vacation.
Health concerns
While DepEd has thumbed down suggestions to return to a June school opening, ASSERT said that bringing back the old academic calendar can minimize avoid classroom interruptions caused by students’ discomfort from the heat.
The group said that while it accepts that teachers still have to work during vacations, forcing teachers to conduct lessons in cramped classrooms without enough ventilation endangers them and their students.
This is especially as the government has long failed to comply with the provisions in the Magna Carta that entitles teachers to free annual medical check-ups and treatment, the group added.
This school year, most schools will be holding complete face-to-face classes during the hottest months of the year for the first time, giving DepEd a test case on how — or if — students and school personnel can cope with the new school calendar it resisted adopting for years.
ASSERT Chairperson James Pagaduan said that some teachers could be more vulnerable to heat exhaustion than students due to the nature of their work, which requires them to move around in class and speak at a loud volume during lectures.
In a text message to Philstar.com, ASSERT said two senior teachers holding Master Teacher positions in Marikina have died after suffering a heart attack and a heat stroke.
At least two out of five teachers have observed a dip in student attendance due to uncomfortable classroom temperatures, a March survey by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers showed.
DepEd’s Basic Education Development Plan 2030, its first long-term roadmap for education, stated that it will improve its health services in consideration of the “health impacts of climate change” on students, specifically heat stroke, dehydration and other diseases brought by rising temperatures, among others.