Teacher groups ready to work with Angara

MANILA, Philippines — Two prominent teacher organizations have welcomed the appointment of Sen. Sonny Angara as the new secretary of the Department of Education, while also urging the senator to actively implement a “democratic style of governance” that will rope in education stakeholders on all decisions affecting them.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers, a network of teacher unions previously red-tagged by Vice President and outgoing DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte, described Angara as a “much-improved choice” due to his history of welcoming dialogue with the teachers group, which they said should continue during his term as DepEd chief.

“ACT has known Sen. Angara to be open to dialogues with teachers' unions and organizations and consistent in his stand for increasing the salaries and improving the benefits of teachers, as well as addressing some problems of the education system,” ACT said in a statement.

ACT added that Angara, as senator, welcome ACT’s requests for dialogues and sought the group’s stances on key education issues, such as the education budget — an aspect of the government’s national budget that Angara touched on as previous chair of the Senate finance panel.

“ACT sees him as someone the alliance can work with,” the group added.

While dismayed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did not name a non-politican to the position, the Teacher’s Dignity Coalition (TDC) said it is “willing to work with whoever takes the role to improve the agency and education sector.”

“To start, we hope that the incoming secretary engages with stakeholders, especially teachers. He will encounter significant challenges, but addressing these can lead to substantial progress in our education system,” TDC said in a statement.

TDC also said that it will be “vigilant in preventing any attempt to use DepEd for partisan politics.” 

“For now, we welcome the Senator to the Department and request a meeting with him at his earliest convenience,” the group added.

Some of the key education issues that Angara will be expected to deal with immediately are the flagging literacy skills of Filipino students, unresolved classroom shortages, public and private school teachers’ calls to raise their salaries, and K to 12 graduates’ job readiness.

Two issues that are both on ACT’s and TDC’s list of recommended priority areas for Angara are the need to push for substantial wage increase for teachers and education support personnel, as well as addressing the inadequate number of classroom, instructional materials and support personnel, including guidance counselors. 

Political science professor Cleve Arguelles told Philstar.com that the next DepEd secretary should have the “extraordinary ability to build public will and mobilize the entire society towards resolving the education crisis.”