AS A REWARD for their efforts and services, public school teachers will each receive a P1,000 incentive benefit during the World Teacher’s Day celebration on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019.
Acting Department of Education (DepEd) 7 Director Salustiano Jimenez said around 65,000 kindergarten up to Grade 12 public school teachers will benefit in Central Visayas.
“This is the first time DepEd has offered this incentive. It’s true that teachers have helped us a lot since without them, we wouldn’t be in our respective professions,” he said in Cebuano.
The grant, though, does not cover teachers who were absent without official leave as of Sept. 30; those who were no longer in service as of Sept. 30; those who were found guilty of any offense in connection with their work from Sept. 30, 2018 to Sept. 30, 2019; and those hired after Sept. 30.
Jimenez said public school teachers also receive chalk allowance, productivity enhancement incentive, clothing or uniform allowance and hardship allowance.
“After we downloaded the Special Allotment Release Order last week, we forwarded it to the regional offices and instructed them to also forward it to the division offices. Hopefully, by Oct. 5, this would be reflected already in their respective automated teller machine accounts,” he said.
The funding requirement for this was charged in the appropriation authorized by the General Appropriations Act, he said.
The culmination of the World Teacher’s Day celebration will be held in Cagayan de Oro City on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Jimenez said the department continues to suffer from lack of teachers, classrooms and equipment.
“I would say, so far, there are no classes with no teachers. But we can’t really tell that the number of teachers is enough. Every year, our population increases. Every month, a teacher retires. When a teacher retires, we’ll need to hire a replacement. Some teachers go on leave, such as maternity, so we need to find substitute teachers,” he said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
He said enrollment in the region has been going up two percent annually.
“The ideal ratio of teachers to learners is 1:25-30 for kindergarten, 1:35-40 for Grades One to Four and 1:40-45 for higher levels,” Jimenez said.
In Central Visayas, there are 19 schools divisions: 10 in Cebu; six in Negros Oriental, one in Siquijor and two in Bohol. WBS