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Over 7,000 teacher-delegates nationwide gathered in Ormoc City on Friday to celebrate this year’s World Teachers’ Day.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones, along with Undersecretary Tonisito M.C. Umali, and other key officials, thanked Mayor Richard Gomez and his wife, Leyte 4th District Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez for hosting the event.
“Yearly, we move from Luzon to the Visayas to Mindanao and then back to Luzon again. Last year, we held the celebration in Bicol which is a part of Luzon. Now, for the Visayas, the secretary chose Region VIII as the host of the celebration,” said Umali.
“Ormoc City is a 1st class independent component city in Leyte that was once very controversial due to the effect of a devastating calamity, the Typhoon “Yolanda”…They want to prove that they can host and handle national events after the said calamity,” he added.
In a related development:
Senator Juan Edgardo Angara has filed a resolution urging the Senate to look into the recent cases of suicides committed by public school teachers to institute needed measures to further safeguard their physical, emotional and mental welfare.
READ: Metro Manila teachers hit DepEd for ‘inhumane’ conditions
Senate Resolution 914 aims to determine whether the suicides were indeed caused by heavy workload as claimed by a group advocating teachers’ rights and welfare and come up with measures that would address the lack of qualified mental health professionals in the country’s public school system.
Angara said a thorough evaluation was recommended “to identify if the current workload of public teachers is detrimental to their holistic well-being, address the current and arising needs of our country’s educators, and determine the necessary steps to ensure that our teachers are afforded with accessible mental health services.”
In an interview, Umali urged every Filipino to celebrate the National Teachers’ month from Sept. 5 to Oct. 5 like how they would celebrate Christmas and other happy holidays “to revitalize the image and respect for teaching as a vocation by increasing awareness on the value of teachers in the Philippine society.”
Following this year’s theme “Gurong Pilipino: Turo mo, Kinabukasan ko,” Briones honored those who are in the teaching profession, acknowledging the “crucial role, loyal service, and dedicated commitment of teachers in developing globally minded citizens, nurturing families, strengthening communities, and building the nation.”
DepEd also thanked its partners including Metrobank Foundation Inc., One Meralco Foundation, Globe Telecommunications, Enchanted Kingdom, Philippine Postal Corp., and other private organizations and government agencies for their “treats” as a token of gratitude to the teachers.
Schools both in private and public around the country held synchronized programs and activities to celebrate the event.
Amid the issues and controversies faced by the DepEd, Briones said that teaching remained a fulfilling profession and vocation.
“Compared to the previous years, there has been an increase in the teachers’ salary and for the fourth trance in 2019, we are looking forward to further increase,” Umali added.
The education official also pointed out that the agency has already reduced the clerical forms to be submitted by teachers from 36 to 10 reports so they can focus more on teaching.
Last July, it was reported that a newly hired teacher from La Paz, Leyte hanged herself. A month later, another young teacher from Bacoor City, Cavite also committed suicide.
According to accounts and reports from the teachers’ colleagues and friends via social media, one of the numerous factors which weighed in on the two teachers might be the heavy amount of non-teaching related workload such as clerical tasks, class observations, and other paper works required of them.
Angara lamented the shortage of registered guidance counselors in public schools, which makes it harder for teachers to seek advice and support for their mental health problems.
“With the real cause of the suicides cannot be determined with absolute certainty, current conditions with regard to the availability of guidance counselors in public schools make it harder for our teachers to seek professional help especially since these guidance counselors often care only to students,” Angara said.
Under the DepEd staffing standard, Angara noted that public and private elementary and high schools were required to hire one guidance counselor for every 500 students.
He also noted that the recently enacted Republic Act 11036 or the Mental Health Act also provided that all public and private educational institutions shall be required to have a complement of mental health professionals.
The same law also reinforces this mandate to the DepEd, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to ensure that mental health promotions in public and private educational institutions shall be adequately complemented with qualified mental health professionals.
However, Angara said the accessibility of psychiatric and psychosocial services for public school teachers had yet to be specified in the implementing rules and regulations of the law.
Through Senate Bill 135 which he filed, Angara wants to upgrade the minimum salary grade level of public school teachers from Salary Grade 11 to 19—doubling their current monthly base pay from P20,179 to P42,099.
Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino said two new reforms to promote the welfare of teachers and recognize their contributions to the development of our country and the lives of students.
He is set to file a measure titled National Teachers Day Act to make Oct. 5 a paid non-working holiday for all teachers.
He will also submit the Teachers Compensation and Support Act to ensure reasonable working conditions and provide free legal assistance and free counselling services to educators.
The measure will also provide an education subsidy for qualified and financially disadvantaged teachers who want to pursue further education.
The Teachers Compensation and Support Act is being pushed by different stakeholders and organizations, which include: Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges, and Universities, Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines , National Alliance of Private Schools Philippines, Inc., and the PEAC-Fund Assistance to Private Education.
Sen. Loren Legarda lauded the contributions of teachers to society and assured them of her support through laws and policies that would benefit the entire teaching community.
“Teachers are our unsung heroes who, day in and out, dedicate their lives to molding the minds of the Filipino youth, despite challenges in our education system,” Legarda said.
“We owe much of our achievements to the women and men whose perseverance, commitment and selfless dedication benefit not only our students but also the society in general. Government, in turn, should guarantee them adequate support through the expansion of benefits and incentives, and the strengthening of professional development programs for educators,” she said.
As Chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, Legarda has supported the increase in the chalk or cash allowance of teachers under the national budget. For 2018, chalk allowance of teachers has increased to P3,500 per teacher.
In 2017, it was P2,500 per teacher and P1,500 in 2015.
For the proposed 2019 budget of the DepEd, Legarda recommended the creation of an incentive or honorarium for public school teachers to be given every Oct. 5, World Teachers’ Day.
She also asked the Commission on Elections to make a request to the Department of Budget and Management to ensure the inclusion of the P1.5 billion budget to cover for the honorarium of teachers on election duty, as provided in the Election Service Reform Act.
“Aside from their teaching duties, teachers are likewise most reliable in serving the general welfare, notably when they serve during election period and when they aid the Philippine Statistics Authority in gathering data from households across the country,” said Legarda.
“Teachers are very important in our society. The value of their commitment to mold the character and values of the youth cannot be overemphasized. We must promote and advance the social, economic, and professional status of teachers and non-teaching personnel commensurate to their invaluable role in national development,” Legarda added.
World Teachers’ Day is observed every Oct.5 not only to show appreciation for teachers all over the world but also to be used as a day to assess and help teachers improve.
