Teacher group scores DepEd for leaving out shortcomings in BER

MANILA, Philippines — Highlights of “minor achievements” and omissions of missed targets underscored the Department of Education’s second Basic Education Report presented on Thursday, according to a nationwide alliance of teachers.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said in a statement on Friday that Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte “should be held accountable for the delays and failures in achieving basic education facility targets,” among other undelivered promises concerning teachers’ workload and pay.

“Unfortunately, the Secretary once again did not report its failures and shortcomings, instead focusing on relatively minor achievements in improving the education system,” ACT said.

To recall, Duterte highlighted in the first BER last year that inadequate school infrastructure was the “most pressing issue pounding basic education” and vowed to utilize DepEd’s budget for 2023 to build 6,000 new classrooms.

Duterte also bared last year that only two out of three school buildings were still in good shape, or only around 104,000 out of 328,000 do not need repairs.

On Thursday, Duterte said that the education department constructed 3,673 new classrooms in 2023 — just about half of its target.

The vice president did not mention how many new school buildings it intends to construct by the end of the year, stating only that DepEd aims to finish building at least 4,000 classrooms “by the end of the first semester of 2024.” 

Duterte’s “omission” of the department’s progress in classroom repair and the construction of new classrooms “hinders the identification of solutions and improvements in implementation,” ACT added.

“The DepEd must ensure the immediate repair of the thousands of classrooms in need and prioritize the construction of new classrooms, particularly in areas where they are most needed,” ACT said.

Removal of admin duties, overload pay ‘long overdue’

The group also criticized DepEd’s plan to allocate 10,000 administrative staff positions nationwide to help unburden teachers of administrative duties — a promise she already mentioned a year ago in the first BER.

Duterte on Thursday also vowed to issue a DepEd order on Friday that would relieve teachers of administrative or non-teaching responsibilities.

“With almost 50,000 schools suffering from being understaffed, we need at least 2 administrative staff per school to truly unload the teachers from being overworked,” ACT said. 

“The allocation of 10,000 administrative staff positions nationwide appears exaggerated in terms of its potential to relieve teachers of administrative duties,” the group added.

The group said that in 2023, DepEd and the Marcos government had "regrettably neglected our teachers and education workers' professional and basic rights" due to the absence of a salary increase.

In February 2023, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) shot down the petition of some 60,000 public school teachers to approve a 36% increase in the salary of entry-level teachers and college instructors.

The DBM said its decision was based on concerns of avoiding a "salary distortion" as increasing the salary of teachers would lead to parallel increases for other education personnel higher up in position.

ACT said that higher cost of goods demands an “immediate need for equitable wages and salary increases that align with the rising costs of living.”

“In particular, teachers, along with all workers from both public and private sectors, call for the legislation of national minimum living wage of P33,000,” the group said, adding that entry-level teachers should get at least P50,000 to compensate for their workload.

Duterte also mentioned in her speech that the department will issue a policy on “Teaching Overload Pay” to compensate educators for working beyond the 6-hour limit. 

ACT said this initiative, however, was “long overdue.”

“It is necessary that the teachers and rank-in-file employees should be properly compensated for the excess services they rendered since last year,” it said.

“Aside from the promised issuance of the guidelines, the DepEd should ensure that the extra work rendered over the past years will be compensated,” the group added.