75,000 teachers deployed as national census starts

MANILA, Philippines - Some 75,000 public school teachers have been deployed by the Department of Education (DepEd) to conduct the national census that is done every ten years to generate accurate demographic data essential in the government’s socio-economic planning.

Education Secretary Mona Valisno said the DepEd deployed 60,000 field enumerators or census takers, 12,000 team supervisors, and 3,000 census area supervisors for the decennial census that started last May 17 and would last until June 12, 2010.

“We ask our people to cooperate in giving our teachers accurate data on their households. This is very important because this census is part of a national aim to better plan the welfare of our citizenry in terms of health, education, jobs, and other critical social services,” Valisno said.

The census is being undertaken in partnership with the National Statistical Coordination Board-National Statistics Office (NSCB-NSO).

“An accurate and timely census on population and housing is important for government’s economic planning and budget allocation for various programs. This is why we’re sending our teachers and we have trained them to carry out this task professionally,” Valisno said.

The government is allocating a compensation for the teachers participating in the census, in the amounts of P11,550; P13,050; and P15,175 one-time honorarium.

The teachers are also entitled to transportation expenses and meal allowances.

The 2010 Census of Population and Housing will obtain a complete count of Philippine population, demographic characteristics (population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status), and geographic distribution in the Philippines. 

The census will also study housing units or living quarters, their structural characteristics, available facilities and geographic distribution, and other household and barangay characteristics.