Not only public school teachers but also several other school personn, both academic and non-academic, will receive a higher annual allowance of P10,000 next schoolyear, a lawmaker said on Friday.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said vocational instructors, librarians, guidance counselors, and teachers in the Alternative Learning System (ALS) and community learning centers will also receive the allowance.
A co-author of Republic Act 11997 or the “Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act,” Villafuerte said the teaching allowance is tax-free and is considered an outright expense, so that the beneficiaries no longer have to submit or present official receipts (ORs) as proof of their purchases.
He likewise lauded Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara for the prompt approval of the implementing rules of the law that increased the annual allowance of public schoolteachers for their purchases of teaching supplies and materials, payment of incidental expenses, and the implementation of various learning delivery modes.
Villafuerte said the implementing rules exclude from the grant of teaching allowance public school teachers with no teaching loads and performing non-teaching functions, duties, and responsibilities within the current school year; those who are on absence without leave, indefinite sick leave, study leave or scholarship within the current schoolyear; and those who are no longer in service as of the official start of the current schoolyear.
However, teachers without teaching loads at the start of the schoolyear but are eventually assigned teaching loads as well as teachers set to retire in the current schoolyear are entitled to a pro-rated teaching allowance, based on how long they are engaged in classroom teaching.
School heads or head teachers without teaching loads but who end up rendering actual teaching hours because of the absence or unavailability of teachers are also entitled to a pro-rated teaching allowance, he said.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline “More school personnel to receive higher allowance — solon.”
