THE Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) has called for the immediate scrapping of the Results-based Performance Management System and the Philippine Professional Standard for Teachers (RPMS-PPST), saying it is "burdensome, unnecessary, and unjust."
The group said such evaluation system compels teachers to render unpaid work beyond April 5, the last day of School Year 2018–2019.
“Instead of enjoying the summer vacation, teachers are still reporting to their schools to finish the unnecessarily heavy paperwork demanded by the RPMS-PPST and to complete their IPCRF (Individual Performance Commitment and Review Form). We, of course, will not be compensated for such by DepEd (Department of Education),” said ACT national chairperson Joselyn Martinez.
She said summer vacation is the only time for teachers to rest and reinvigorate, as they are not entitled to sick and vacation leave credits for the whole school year, unlike other public and private employees who enjoy these benefits throughout the year.
“These requirements are ridiculous! We are essentially being asked to prove that we worked the entire year through various means of verification identified by the PPST, which supposedly ensure that we comply with a set of standards recommended by the profiteering institution Asian Development Bank," said Martinez.
ACT questioned DepEd's use of the RPMS-PPST framework and tools like the IPCRF to measure teachers' performance and productivity, which the group said are geared toward ensuring maximum profit at a minimum cost.
The teachers' federation argued that such is not appropriate for government institutions and for service-oriented professions such as teaching.
DepEd, for its part, insisted that the evaluation system is aimed at improving the quality of teaching and, therefore, of education in the country.
But ACT lambasted DepEd's reasoning, saying this fails to account the dismal and neglected state of public education in the Philippines, and puts the entire burden of providing quality education on teachers.
"DepEd is trying to veer the blame away from the major reason behind the declining quality of education in the country, which is no less than the problematic K to 12 program," said Martinez.
She said the RPMS-PPST misses the multiple other hats teachers are forced to wear due to staff shortage, which include that of medical workers, social workers, guidance counselor, clerk, janitor, security guard, and many others.
"DepEd has effectively reduced our profession to reams of useless forms and paperworks, which disregard the indispensable work we do as teachers. We care for these children like they are our own, and have dedicated our lives to ensuring that the youth gets a proper education despite very little support from the government. We deserve better than to be treated like this," said Martinez.
ACT tagged the RPMS-PPST as "Regulasyong Pahirap kay Ma'am at Sir" (RPMS) and "PPeSTe" (PPST).
The group urged DepEd to jointly work with teachers in crafting mechanisms for evaluation that give justice to the teaching profession. (PR)