The Department of Education has postponed taking a stance on the proposed salary increases for teachers while awaiting the results of a World Bank study commissioned last year. The study will evaluate the feasibility and extent of pay hikes that teachers have long been campaigning for.
This decision comes after a series of actions in the Congress and schools seeking to raise the salaries of public school teachers, a measure that has been revived by lawmakers and teacher groups to help educators cope with inflation.
Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc recently refiled a bill aiming to almost double the entry-level pay of public school teachers to P50,000, which they argue is a “living wage” needed to keep up with the rising cost of goods and the “distortion” of military personnel’s wages during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Following the filing of the bill, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers organized school-based protests in Metro Manila to demand an increase in teachers’ pay, emphasizing the need to address economic and professional rights for educators to perform well.
While the Department of Education has described itself as an “advocate” in providing teachers with additional benefits, spokesperson Michael Poa stated that they cannot comment on the amount being lobbied in the House until the World Bank study is completed.
Poa also mentioned that the results of the World Bank study will be presented during the House’s deliberations of House Bill 9920, with pertinent data currently being forwarded to the international organization.
The study aims to determine whether there is a need to increase teachers’ salaries and, if so, by how much, taking into consideration the inflation rates for the coming years.
This news comes after the Department of Budget and Management rejected a petition to approve a salary increase for teachers last year, citing fiscal constraints, including the “high cost” of increasing teachers’ and public workers’ pay and the salary “distortion” it would cause. Teachers and workers have been pushing for more substantial pay increases, criticizing the current salary level for teachers and other government workers as inadequate for a decent standard of living.
