Stop mandatory physical reporting of all teachers, DepEd called

A group of teachers called DepEd for the suspension of the requiring the mandatory physical reporting of teachers in schools under Alert Level 1.

“Forcing a blanket policy among teachers and without any prior consultation unnecessarily puts teachers in more challenging conditions, without any guarantee of support from DepEd, and while further impeding education delivery,” Alliance of Concerned Teachers – National Capital Region (ACT-NCR) Union President Vladimer Quetua.

The group pushed for flexible and needs-based, and responsive working arrangements for teachers.

ACT said that teachers’ work “vastly differs” from other government employees. Teachers are tied to the presence of students in schools, which is currently still at a least due to the “slow expansion” of limited face-to-face classes.

“We have procured internet connections at home, we have set up a system for handling multiple learning modalities for our students, only for it to be completely disregarded and disrupted by this new order that was implemented without enough thought and preparation,” he explained.

ACT-NCR Union reiterated its call on the agency to suspend the memorandum’s implementation.

Quetua said that even before the DepEd memo, teachers have been coming to school regularly to do various tasks to prepare their schools for its re-opening.

“We have gone above and beyond to ensure learning continuity amid the health and socio-economic crises, often shouldering the massive burden of the state’s duty to the youth,” Quetua said. 

“It’s high time that DepEd officials listen to our demands,” he added.