DepEd opposes honorarium for teachers handling big classes

The Department of Education (DepEd) in the Philippines expressed opposition to a proposed bill that suggests giving extra money (honorarium) to public school teachers who teach classes with more students. DepEd’s director, Mario Bermudez, spoke against this idea during a meeting at the House of Representatives. He believes that while having many students in a class is tough, paying teachers more for larger classes isn’t the best solution.

Instead, DepEd suggests that teachers’ pay should be based on their overall workload, not just on the number of students in their classes.

Marissa Magsino, a representative of the OFW Partylist, agrees with DepEd. She worries that if teachers are paid more for bigger classes, it could lead to unfair competition among them, with each trying to get more students to earn more.

The House Committee on Basic Education is considering a different bill. This bill aims to control the number of students in public school classes, proposing a maximum of 35 students in each class at all levels of basic education.

DepEd suggests keeping the class sizes as they currently set them, which varies by grade level. According to Bermudez, the ideal class size should be 20 to 30 students for kindergarten, 30 to 35 for grades 1 to 3, 40 to 50 for grades 4 to 10, and 40 students for senior high school classes.