THE FIRST day of classes yesterday coincided with National Teachers’ Day.
Our teachers have been at the forefront in ensuring the delivery of education to our youth amid the pandemic. Yes, teachers are frontliners. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers look for funds to be able to still deliver their duties amid health risks and lack of funds from the government.
Private school teachers are not spared. There have been reports that almost 1,000 private schools have closed with at least 100,000 private school teachers affected by the pandemic. With the ongoing budget deliberations in Congress, teachers call for adequate funds in critical inputs for education such as instructional materials. Teaching expenses must be provided by the government and every child’s right to access to quality and safe education must be respected.
These demands are for the betterment of the quality of education our youth will receive. It is the government’s responsibility to provide these basic demands for enough learning modules per student, available gadgets and laptops for both student and teachers for online classes, adequate health measures are in place to ensure health safety for both teacher and student, and sufficient teaching expenses allowances for our teachers in this new normal for education.
With new modes of teaching this year and probably beyond, the perennial problems of shortages are made worse since the 2021 proposed national budget exhibits the same skewed priorities as shown in previous years. The Department of Education proposed P554 billion as its 2021 budget, where vital programs such as funds for instructional materials and allowances of teachers for teaching expenses incurred cuts. These items are insufficient before the pandemic, and they are more so now because of the need for more gadgets and equipment to adapt to the new online, modular, and blended modes of learning. The Special Education Program as well as the World Teachers’ Day incentive were deleted.
As for teachers and education workers in the private sector, they can expect no additional funds and programs for wage subsidy, non-financial aid, and other forms of assistance under the Departments of Labor and Employment and Social Welfare and Development. The government must not exclude private school teachers in providing socio-economic aid. They were also greatly affected by the health and economic crisis brought about by the pandemic.
Our teachers’ simple demand on their special day is to be genuinely honored by government’s prioritization in the 2021 national budget of critical items for the safe reopening of schools and the delivery of quality and accessible education for our youth.
