Teachers to get salary increase

Public school teachers with Salary Grade 11 may soon get higher monthly pay equivalent to Salary Grade 15 under the proposed “Public School Teachers Upgrading Act.”

Under House Bill 4616 authored by Rep. Mark Villar (Lone District, Las Piñas City), public schools teachers in the elementary and secondary levels shall be upgraded from Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 15 while those occupying higher positions shall be adjusted accordingly.

The bill provides that teachers receiving P18, 549 under Salary Grade 11 will get P24, 887 under Salary Grade 15.

Villar said the monthly allowance of a cadet at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) is much higher compared to the teachers under Salary Grade 11.

A high school graduate who enters the PMA as a cadet receives a monthly salary of P21,709, Villar said.

According to Villar, the salaries of public school teachers are currently unable to insure a reasonable standard of life for themselves and their families.

Citing the latest study on living wage, Villar said a regular family needs P957 a day for their daily sustenance or more than P21, 054 per month.

“The P18, 549 monthly salary of a teacher is not enough to cope up with the present living wage in Metro Manila,” Villar said.

Villar said the situation has obviously pushed some of the teachers out of the country to seek better pay and working condition.

“Due to the low salary, many of our teachers migrate to work not as teachers but as domestic helpers, nannies or caregivers in other countries,” Villar said.

Villar said the effort of the government to upgrade the educational system cannot succeed for as long as teachers are taken for granted.

“Teachers who are in dire conditions can never be expected to turn in good quality students and future leaders of the land,” Villar said. (PR/@dcherald)