No Saturday classes; DepEd warns vs fake news

MANILA, Philippines — No elementary and senior high school classes are set on Saturday, the Department of Education (DepEd) said yesterday, warning the public against fake news on social media.

“For official announcements and information on basic education, only visit the official DepEd Philippines social media accounts,” the agency said.

Parents and students were earlier warned of fake social media posts about cash aid, class suspensions, scholarships and a no-backpack policy.

Fake news about the addition of a Grade 13 circulated online last month.

P50K teacher salary

Meanwhile, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said yesterday that public school teachers’ minimum salary should be increased to P50,000 amid inflation.

A family of five needs P1,217 daily or P36,510 monthly to have a decent and humane condition of living, ACT party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio said.

“Top officials like those in Salary Grade 31 to 33, including members of the Cabinet and of Congress and the President, are paid P293,191 up to P438,844,” he noted.

Police and soldiers’ salaries were increased by 50 to 100 percent during the Duterte administration, while teachers got measly increases of 4.95 to 5.6 percent in the Salary Standardization Law VI, Tinio lamented.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara and other DepEd officials have met with ACT leaders to discuss teachers’ concerns.

Working hours, schedules, medical allowances, benefits, career progression and promotions were tackled with the group, Angara told The STAR.

“We discussed updates on the release of performance-based bonus that we are currently addressing, details on how to claim the P7,000 health allowance and other concerns of our dearest teachers. We also shared the progress on the fast-tracking of procurement of textbooks and expansion of the list of publishers,” Angara said.

ACT chairman Vladimir Quetua said the dialogue with Angara was productive.

Angara vowed reforms in hiring of principals, as well as reducing to two the number of required observations of teachers’ performance, Quetua recalled.