ACT backs Roco plan to scrap service fee

Public school teachers threw yesterday their support behind Education Secretary Raul Roco’s plan to scrap the service fee received by employees and officials of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) who help prepare their payroll checks.

Carol Almeda, president of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), said they welcome the reforms which Roco is instituting at DECS.

"It may be the first step toward rectifying a lot of wrong things in the policies and programs of the DECS. A lot of things really need to be done," she said.

As a practice, DECS collects payments for private lending institutions that extend loans to government teachers. In return, those directly involved in the collection get a two-percent service fee.

Almeda, however, admitted that the planned scrapping of the service fee has caused many lending institutions to back out.

"Maybe they are worried they won’t be paid. I don’t think this will be good for us," she said.

Almeda said Roco must think of an alternative source of quick loans for teachers.