School opening blues

Militant teachers’ groups led by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) marched last Monday to Mendiola demanding salary increase for public school teachers. As usually done every opening of classes, the protest march sought to dramatize the plight of the more than 500,000 public school teachers all over the country.

The teachers’ groups were pressing for increase in entry-level teachers’ salaries to P25,000 a month from the current rate of about P18,000. They also asked the government to increase the monthly pay for non-teaching personnel of the Department of Education (DepEd) from P9,000 to P15,000.

It is not as if our public school teachers are the lowest paid employees of government. On the contrary, they are now better remunerated than the rest of those in the service. Their pay rates have been adjusted through these years several times under the Salary Standardization Law (SSL).

In his turn for press briefing that day, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda was quoted saying public school teachers should bring their clamor for a salary increase to Congress. After all, he pointed out, the matter of public school teachers’ pay, along with the rest of state employees, falls under the SSL that Congress passes and approves into law.

Interviewed yesterday over radio DzRH, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad ruled out any increase in the salaries of teachers for the meantime. The last adjustment made under SSL, Abad pointed out, is not yet even completed this year. The DBM chief stressed the government cannot just grant any adjustment in teachers’ pay without also adjusting the retirement and pension benefits that include the rest of government workers from the police to the military and the rest of civil service employees.

Pangasinan Rep. Kimi Cojuangco, who chairs the committee on basic education of the House of Representatives, echoed the Palace stand. Cojuangco doubted if the government could even afford the huge amount for a bureaucracy-wide salary increase next year. She is the wife of P-Noy’s cousin ex-Tarlac Rep. Mark who belongs to the Nationalist People’s Coalition. 

So as far as Congress is concerned, teachers should not expect a salary adjustment in 2015. However, the cause for teachers’ pay hike would not be farfetched to be picked up by those in the 16th Congress with moist eyes in the coming May 2016 presidential elections.

For sure, they would scramble to take up the cause of another round of SSL for public school teachers who head the polling booths during elections here in our country.

The SSL paved the way for multi-year adjustments on the pay scales of government employees and officials all the way to the President. President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III was the immediate beneficiary when the basic monthly salary of the Chief Executive was doubled from P60,000 to P120,000. 

While P-Noy has the highest pay grade in the government, it is the justices of the Supreme Court who get heftier pay. Justices receive P135,000-P150,000 a month, including allowances.

On the other hand, Cabinet members like Lacierda and Abad along with lawmakers receive about P75,000-P80,000 a month. Their previous pay was only P35,000. 

Other than teachers’ pay, another recurring issue every school opening is the never-ending saga of lack of decent classrooms and school buildings, especially in far-flung areas. The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) debunked DepEd’s claims that the government has sufficiently addressed the classroom shortage these past three years of the Aquino administration.

This was after the DBM announced having released P7.35 billion to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the construction of classrooms in public elementary and secondary schools nationwide. Chargeable against DepEd budget for Basic Educational Facilities, the DBM reported P7.35 billion was allotted for the construction of 7,136 classrooms in 4,007 sites throughout the country. Of this total, 5,916 classrooms will be built in elementary schools, while 1,220 classrooms will be for secondary schools.

Of the 15 regions, the largest amount was released to Bicol that got P1.15 billion for the construction of 1,111 classrooms. Region XII got the next biggest allocation of P960.8 million for the provinces of South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and General Santos City. Meanwhile, Region VII (Cebu, Bohol and the rest of Central Visayas) was given P753.9 million to construct 710 classrooms in elementary and secondary schools.

Ironically, however, Region VIIl that includes Samar and Leyte did not get as much allocation for the construction of new schools that were damaged by super typhoon “Yolanda” in November last year. Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez complained there is severe shortage of classrooms in his province, a dire situation that became more glaring when classes resumed last Monday.

We need not go far to find the prevalent problem of classroom shortage. Right here in Metro Manila, we take pity on the sight of three elementary kids sharing a single wooden desk in a classroom that has 80 pupils. It is estimated that 82 percent of the 865 public schools in Metro Manila still implement the double-shift schedule so as to accommodate overflowing number of students.

The DepEd earlier tested public opinion on a proposed three-day school week to help address congestion in public schools in Metro Manila. The DepEd withdrew for now the proposal for further study due to concerns it may adversely affect the quality of education.

It’s a never-ending cycle of problems that bedevil our basic public education system. We could only ask where have all the pork-barrel funds gone? Businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles allegedly enriched herself so much from the P10-billion pork barrel funds that she generously shared with corrupt politicians and government officials.

These are just some of the school opening blues that we hear and encounter every year. But they will turn more colorful when every aspiring leader of the country would come out in timely fashion as the champion for youth education and teachers’ welfare.