The Partnership of Employees and Non-Teaching Staff of the Department of Education will hold its first national convention and seminar in Teachers Camp, Baguio City this month.
With the theme “Meeting the challenges and improving services of Non-teaching staff in the era of change and K-12,” the three-day event will be held from Aug. 25 to 27.
PENS president George Tizon said around 500 participants are expected to join the convention from all over the country. Each region will be represented by members from the school, division and regional level composed of academic non-teaching personnel and non-academic non teaching personnel from DepEd.
The group envisions to establish a program for all non-teaching personnel that will provide additional benefits through livelihood projects to raise the morale of non-teaching staff and the rank and file employees of the department.
During the convention, two main programs will be launched by the organization to define the direction of PENS for the coming years.
The “Opensa Kontra Kakulangan sa Edukasyon” (Offensive Against the Lack of Education) provides free school supplies to poor but deserving students of public schools from the far flung areas in the provinces. These school supplies were gathered through the campaign drive of PENS from public and private schools in the rich cities of Metro Manila to donate unused/old school supplies.
The “Depensa sa Kahirapan, Sama Samang Pagtutulungan” (Cooperation as Defense Against Poverty) on the other hand, is a project aims to provide cash assistance to School Division Office for a livelihood project for the non-teaching staff of the Division Office.
Proceeds of the convention will be awarded to a chosen division that will receive P100,000 to start a cooperative for the non-teaching staff. This is to augment the daily needs of non-teaching staff due to small salaries of the rank and file.
“The Constitution acknowledge the vital role of the academic and non-academic non-teaching personnel in the educational development of our children,” said Tizon.
He said the Local Government Code ensures this mandate with the composition of the Local School Board, where non-teaching staff are represented as an official member of the board who deliberate the budget for the Special Education Fund.
“We would like to maximize this opportunity by guiding our members during their representation in the LSB to promote and uphold the rights, benefits and opportunities for the non-teaching staff in all cities and municipalities in the country,” Tizon noted.
The convention will be highlighted with guest speakers from DepEd-Central Office and other competent discussants who will provide knowledge and updates to the non-teaching force of the department.