MANILA, Philippines — A teachers' group on Wednesday night urged Congress to include the education sector as one of the top priorities for a government-initiated stimulus bill.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers made this request in a letter addressed to Rep. Luis Villafuerte Jr. (Camarines Sur 2nd District), who sits as the chairman of the Bicameral Conference House Panel for the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act of 2020 (Bayanihan 2).
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Highlighted in the group's letter was a list of measures that they said must be funded for classes to resume on October 5, including the implementation of health and safety measures for teaching and non-teaching staff.
ACT also urged funding for materials like gadgets that teachers and underprivileged learners will need for online learning, and the production of enough modules to ensure a one module per student ratio.
"The less than seven weeks left to prepare will be critical in ensuring the safe re-opening of schools and the delivery of accessible quality education to millions of learners," ACT said.
"It is our fervent hope that our duly-elected legislators will wield the Congress’ power of the purse to enable these measures. These will serve as a vital step to the government’s fulfillment of the youth’s inviolable right to education and the protection of education front liners’ welfare amid the raging pandemic."
READ: Teachers' group lists requisites for 'quality education' amid COVID-19 pandemic
The bicameral conference committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday night agreed to increase funding for the proposed measure to P166.5 billion amid the coronavirus pandemic.
A source told The STAR that only the P140 billion as proposed by the Senate would be funded immediately while the remaining P26.5 billion would be part of a “standby fund.”
Private school teachers decry 'inadequate' aid provisions in Bayanihan 2
Meanwhile, ACT - Private Schools on Thursday renewed its calls for "sub substantial and humane government assistance to all affected private school teachers and personnel nationwide."
READ: Private school teachers lobby for better aid, wage subsidy in Bayanihan 2
In a statement, the group slammed the House's proposed allocation of P300 million for all affected teaching and non-teaching personnel in private and public schools as "beyond inadequate."
"In numbers, only 37,500 to 60,000 personnel are expected to serve as beneficiaries, should the government decide to give a one-time cash assistance of PhP 5,000 to PhP 8,000 from the proposed funding," ACT - Private Schools Secretary-General Jonathan Geronimo said.
"Based on the statistics released on media reports, 407, 757 teachers and staff were affected during the first month of Enhanced Community Quarantine. Furthermore, low enrollment percentage this school year prompts massive layoffs of academic personnel. In fact, there are 119,819 private school teachers from 17 regions suffered from retrenchment last June," he added.
The group further renewed its previous demand for the government to provide six-month financial aid for private school personnel amounting to P10,000, "and a four-month wage subsidy program to private education institutions, shouldering half [P15,554] of the nationwide family living wage [P31,089] declared by IBON Foundation, an independent think-tank in the Philippines." — with a report from The STAR