School workers affected by K to 12 face an uncertain future

MANILA, Philippines - At 45, Ma. Socorro Cordova, a physical education teacher at a Catholic school, will not likely top the list of applicants to be considered by employers.

The veteran teacher of 16 years is worried that her name might not even make it to such list.

“I am afraid I might not pass their qualifications. Even though I have the knowledge and passion in teaching, still, age matters to universities,” Cordova told philSTAR.com in an interview.

Cordova is one of the thousands of school workers who might lose their jobs once the government’s K to 12 education reform program is fully implemented.

The program will revise the college general education curriculum by removing some units or subjects. The new curriculum will comprise a year’s worth of general education subjects and at least two years of major subjects.

From 63 units for humanities and social science majors and 51 units for science, engineering, and math majors, the new curriculum will just require 36 units for all students. The 36 units are divided into 24 units of core subjects, nine units of electives, and three units of the Rizal course as required by law.

Critics of the K to 12 curriculum estimate that around 85,000 college workers are at risk of losing their jobs or are facing pay cuts.

Lack of job security

Fewer units mean less teaching load and such set-up creates a dilemma for some teachers like Cordova.

“At 45, I am too early to retire but too late to start new career,” she said.

Cordova said affected instructors who would transfer to high school might suffer pay cuts and are not assured of job security.

Settling for a job that offers a lower salary might not be a viable option for Cordova, who has to pay monthly bills while taking care of her mother and supporting her brother's family.

“Definitely, as the breadwinner of the family?, worry, anxiety and mental anguish are truly the effects of K to 12 on me,” she said.

News about the new curriculum came as an unpleasant surprise for Janet Estella, a teacher at an exclusive school who is expected to give birth in a few weeks.

“Since I am pregnant with my first baby, my initial thought was to find a new job. But security is at stake since I am supposed to be a permanent professor and then all of a sudden, I will be fired,” Estella said.

“It seems like it’s hard to move forward from here,” she added.

If there’s any consolation, Estella has no child yet to send to school. But this is about to change and the thought of losing her job has been affecting her drive as an educator.

"With the current situation of GE (general education) professors, I suddenly lost energy to teach,” Estella said.

‘Demoralizing’

Some schools have offered separation packages for teachers who will be affected by the new curriculum.

Flordeliz Abanto, a mass communication teacher, said her school is implementing an early separation program that would take effect next year.

The program involves the retrenching of teachers and then rehiring them as part-time employees.

“Personally, I find the policy demoralizing and it gives me anxiety because I have children in school so as early as now, I need to think of ways to sustain my profession,” Abanto said.

“We don’t know if we can really get a job and even if we do, we still don’t have any assurance as to how long we will stay because sooner or later, other schools will lay off professors just like what our college did.”

Abanto said even non-teaching personnel would be affected because the absence of college enrollees in 2016 would mean less manpower requirements.

‘Like a bomb thrown at our faces’

David Michael San Juan, board member of the Pambansang Samahan sa Linggwistika at Literaturang Filipino (PSLLF), said some schools are now reluctant to renew the contract of probationary employees while others offer fixed term full-time contracts that will lapse in 2016.

He noted that the guidelines on the implementation of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 allow owners and administrators of schools to lay off their faculty members if they think they are no longer needed.

Rebecca Añonuevo, a professor at a school in Quezon City, said she and her fellow faculty members have been informed about the decision of their administrators to implement an early separation program (ESP) that will take effect in May 2015.

She said 27 professors of their college have been given early notices about the separation program.

“Everyone was shocked, aggrieved and indignant. Just a week before the bomb was thrown at our faces, the same members of the general education (GE) faculty were asked to attend and participate in the new GE curriculum workshop. Then the announcement of the mandatory ESP came,” Añonuevo told philSTAR.com.

“The move was way too uncharitable, and contrary to the values of the institution,” she added.

Añonuevo said they would continue to ask their administration to reconsider its decision to implement the ESP and to provide affected workers with more options.

Solutions?

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) previously said it would urge Congress to put up a P10-billion “stabilization fund” to help professors to be affected by the K to 12 program.

The fund will also subsidize losses to be incurred by schools that will not have college enrollees when the senior high school takes effect in 2016.

CHED has also given assurance that the issues raised by the professors who might be displaced by the program are being studied carefully.

A technical working group is now working with the education and the labor departments to craft solutions that will address the challenges that come with the transition towards the K to 12 program.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has urged trustees and administrators of Catholic schools to be “creative” to avoid retrenchments.

In a statement, the CBCP noted that charity “is a law for Catholic schools that takes precedence over all human law.”

“Turning away many of the faithful co-workers we have had who have been loyal to our schools and to the local Church for all these years is a most unwelcome prospect,” CBCP said. 

“We strongly exhort our school administrators to provide opportunities for the re-tooling and re-training of our instructors and professors in tertiary education to be able to handle subjects in the academic track of senior high school.”

Catholic schools, CBCP said, should also consider operating senior high schools.

“Our Catholic school teachers and instructors should not be left to their own devices,” it said.

For some professors, the issue is not just about losing one’s source of income but maintaining relevance in a vocation that they have learned to love.

“I already accepted the fact that I won’t get rich in teaching but when we suddenly lose the essence of our profession, that’s the hardest experience,” Estella said.