Teachers are still optimistic about the new salary increase and the solution to the GSIS issue

The new salary increase is badly needed for teachers. It is not the increase given by the previous administration of Pres. Duterte, but the teachers are calling for the new increase even if not in tranches. The last tranche increase in 2023 during the previous administration should be at ease, but there should be another salary increase within 2023.

The new salary increase should be separated from the old increase or tranche in 2023. This new salary increase is a separate increase in the new administration. The teachers will be disappointed if there is no other salary increase aside from the last tranche increase.

If the salary increase is thrown out, it will cause a major crisis for teachers because the prices of all commodities are rising. The salary of teachers is not enough in one month. Where can teachers find an extra income wherein the teachers are staying in school for 8 hours or more than that while busy doing their work?

DepEd should not be referring to private schools when it comes to the salary increase because they could not easily apply to public schools because teacher applicants should undergo an interview, demo, and exam. Therefore, teachers should be calling on VP Sara to give a one-way increase, even if not by tranche.

According to VP Secretary Sara Duterte, the first question raised is about the salary increase. During the administration of President Duterte, there was an increase in tranches every year from 2019 to 2023. President Marcos committed the increase for 2023 to being given to you. And the question is whether there will be another salary increase in 2023–2024.

VP Sara consulted the Department of Labor on this matter because the disparity in salaries between the private sector and public school teachers is already quite wide, and according to the Department of Labor, if you continue to raise the wages of public school teachers, you will put undue pressure on your private schools.

It will cause a mass exodus of private school teachers, which they see in most areas, in most schools in different areas. The migration of private school teachers to the public school system will force the closure of schools. So the Department of Labor told VP Secretary Sara Duterte to study non-wage benefits for your teachers.

Next is the paperwork, in addition to the teacher’s teaching tasks. According to her, they will discuss this in the central office and see what they can do to reduce the paper work of the teachers.

The third is debt. You know, according to VP Secretary Sara, debt is like your love life. She can easily say that teacher debt is not a problem for her. As Department Secretary, she has a moral obligation to do something about it. The plan is that she already talked to PLIs because it is very easy to borrow from a private lending institution. She suggested that they give a seminar on financial literacy to teachers.

According to VP Sara, it is not always or every time that teachers must borrow. Sometimes they must learn to manage their money and some of it must go to their savings and some of it to their insurance, investments, and the rest of their expenses. They have GSIS as well. The teachers at GSIS are said to be unhappy.

She thinks that the GSIS is the only one that is happy with their members because the size of the Department of Education’s receives or payables to the GSIS is greater than theirs, and almost half of the members of the GSIS are teachers. And good enough, they have friends inside the GSIS and they told them to fix it because most of the members are from the Department of Education.

Otherwise, VP Sara said that they would create a Department of Education GSIS. GSIS employees answered that they would not do it. They may find a way to improve their services to everyone. VP Sara did not say that only to the teachers, but to all the beneficiaries of GSIS.

At the central office, they discussed one of the reasons why there is a problem with the quality of the education; it’s because their teachers, their RDs, their ERDs, and their school district supervisors are politicized. Because the Congressmen, the mayors, the governor, and the vice-governors interfere in the work of the Department of Education.

They also discussed at the central office what they should do so that the school building program, the hiring of teachers, and the movement of ERDs, SDS, and RDs are not politicized. So that’s what they have to do. As she stated, it will not be as easy as many years for their country. 

But if they work together and pursue one common goal of progress and development for their country so that their children will inherit a better nation, a better Philippines, then there is nothing that they cannot do because, as it is, they have been caught up in the list of countries in terms of Math, Science, and Reading and there is nowhere to go but up.

Teachers are so hopeful for the salary increase and that the problem in GSIS will also be resolved so that they have motivation while teaching the students in face-to-face classes. Without a salary increase and a solution to the problem in GSIS, teachers are failing and becoming desperate. – Doki | Helpline PH