THE Department of Education (DepEd), in its commitment to provide career and financial stability among teachers, is continuously working with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and Civil Service Commission (CSC) in revising the Career Progression System for Public School Teachers.
DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said that that department is continuously finding ways to give our teachers the necessary benefits and assistance they should be receiving with or without the pandemic as her administration is committed to helping them, especially in these trying times.
Upon its approval, the teaching career line will have items for Teacher IV, V, VI, VII, and Master Teacher V.
Sec. Briones pointed out that the career progression reform initiative seeks to ensure more opportunities for career movement, professional growth, and, eventually, financial stability for high-performing and deserving teachers.
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In another development, At the onset of the country receiving more supplies of Covid-19 vaccine, Sec. Briones has encouraged teachers and non-teaching personnel of the DepEd to get immunized to protect their families, learners, and communities.
Briones emphasized that she is not only encouraging the teachers to be vaccinated not only because it is a matter of protecting their personal rights, but it is also a matter of protecting the lives and health of children and staff who are also entrusted in their care.
The Secretary said that the teachers have been upgraded in the ranking along with other frontliners who directly deal with the public because they will be dealing with the children, they will be protecting the children and perhaps they will consider it as part of the responsibility to protect the lives of those who are entrusted to DepEd.
It can be recalled that Sec. Briones pushed for the inclusion of education frontliners in the A4 priority list of the National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for Covid-19 (NDVP), which was recently approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).
Meanwhile, the Secretary also reiterated that teachers and personnel who fall under higher priority categories, including those who are medical frontliners (A1), senior citizens (A2), and with comorbidities (A3), can already register for vaccination in their respective local government units and also enjoined all DepEd staff to assist in educating the public about vaccines and vaccination procedures.
Briones further said that teachers must be champions for the vaccine in their respective communities and need to continuously conduct information campaigns as well as surveys to monitor the responses of the teachers to this policy.
To further disseminate awareness and information on the importance of getting the Covid-19 vaccine and other mitigation efforts, DepEd recently launched the Vacc2School: Ligtas na Bakuna Para sa Balik-Eskwela for teaching and non-teaching personnel.
Ways forward, according to the DepEd official website, http://www.deped.gov.ph, the Department also eyes to conduct town hall meetings to address stakeholders’ concerns and planning workshops for championing vaccination advocacies.