Department of Education Secretary Sonny Angara’s engagement with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is a positive step in addressing the financial concerns of all teachers and education workers.
We agree with the position of Angara to the BSP that the financial well-being of teachers and education workers is closely linked to their capacity in delivering quality education.
When teachers are financially secure, the quality of public education improves. This is especially urgent now as the learning crisis has reached critical levels.
During his two consecutive terms as senator, Angara filed measures on the increase of salaries of public school teachers by moving the minimum salary grade up from Salary Grade 11 (P27,000-P28,512) to Salary Grade 19 (P53,873-P59,573).
The rationale behind Angara’s measures in the Senate remains relevant and urgent today.
Teachers continue to be among the most underpaid workers in the country despite their expanding workload, mounting responsibilities and central role in nation-building.
The compensation for teachers also remains far from commensurate to their contribution to the public education system while salary distortion persists, putting them at a disadvantage.
Providing substantial salary increases for teachers can very much be carried out by the government, considering the billions to a trillion worth of funding poured by the government for flood control projects.
If the administration can allocate around P980 billion to over P1 trillion for flood control projects from 2023 to 2025, then allocating hundreds of billions annually to support a P50,000 entry-level salary for nearly a million public school teachers nationwide is clearly doable.
This is a matter of priorities – valuing educators and the public workforce over corrupt political dynasties, entitled legislators, favored contractors and bureaucrat capitalists.