MANILA,Philippines — A measure seeking to increase supplies allowance for teachers starting next year hurdled second reading at the Senate on Tuesday.
Currently, each public school teacher receives an annual chalk allowance of P3,500, but senators proposed that this be increased incrementally until the standard allowance is P10,000 by SY 2024-2025 onwards.
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Under Senate Bill 1092, or the Teaching Supplies Allowance Act of 2020, each classroom teacher will receive P5,000 for the School Years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. The allowance will further increase to P7,500 for SY 2023-2024 and P10,000 for SY 2024-2025 onwards.
This staggered increase was proposed by Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, a co-author of the measure, who said it would allow the government to better shoulder the additional cost.
Sen. Bong Revilla said the bill, once signed into law, will benefit over 800,000 public school teachers.
He added that, while the funding source of the bill is uncertain given the COVID-19 crisis, he hopes that the measure will reach to President Rodrigo Duterte's desk for approval.
The same bill also requires the Department of Education to "conduct a periodic review and recommend the necessary increase based on the current prices of the materials," a statement released by the Senate's public relations bureau revealed.
The measure is a substitute for similar bills introduced by Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto as well as Senators Revilla and Sonny Angara. — Bella Perez-Rubio