Private schools welcome proposed P10B fund to support professors

MANILA, Philippines - Private schools welcomed yesterday the proposed P10-billion stabilization fund of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to support college professors who will be laid-off due to the implementation of the K to 12 program in 2016.

The Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (COCOPEA), Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), and Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges, and Universities (PAPSCU) said the CHED proposal will greatly help private colleges and universities sustain its operations and continue to support their faculty during the transition period and avoid displacements, if possible.

“Generally we hope to use it to cover cost of keeping our faculty to costs of retrenchment if unavoidable,” Joseph Noel Estrada, COCOPEA’s legal counsel, said.

“Colleges and universities will exercise retrenchment and redundancy of faculty and personnel authorized under Article 283 of the Labor Code, only as a matter of last resort when keeping their employment is no longer sustainable under the circumstances,” he said.

In cases where displacements are inevitable, they said the fund may also be used for financial assistance and benefit of separated personnel.

Estrada said the entire private education sector stands to lose P150 billion for a period of five years during the implementation of the senior high school program.

For a period of five years starting School Year 2016-2017 until SY 2020-2021, there will be a total of eight enrollment years that will be lost, he said.

Estrada said about 30,000 college faculty will be affected by the K to 12 program, of these 30 percent are from COCOPEA member-schools.

“It is in the interest of private colleges and universities to keep their faculty in their employ because it would cost them more to lay them off,” he said.

While the amount of losses that will be absorbed by the private colleges and universities vary, Estrada said the financial impact is certain and inevitable.

“Schools will try its best to avoid termination of faculty by exercising various options available to it under the law to advance their welfare. But while it is possible to reduce the number of faculty that will be displaced, there is no guarantee that everyone will be shielded from separation because of the long period of vacuum in enrollment,” Estrada said.

Last May 30, the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and CHED issued a joint guidelines on the labor and management component of Republic Act 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.

Under the guidelines, affected faculty members may be offered to teach specialized subjects in the senior high school, or avail of the government’s livelihood program.

“For those affected workers who will be absorbed as public SHS teachers, the DepEd shall provide the necessary training,” it said.

On the other hand, TESDA shall administer assessment or certification for those who will be trained for technical-vocational education in the SHS.

TESDA shall likewise offer skills to affected workers who will decide to move out of the education sector in order for them to be job-fit for their next employment.

DOLE will also assist affected workers who will avail of its livelihood and self-employment programs.

“While the government should be vigilant in protecting labor from exploitation during the transition period of the K to 12 Program, it should not lose sight that private educational institutions have legal rights too under the law, and on top of these rights is the right of survival,” Estrada said.