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Angara pledges support for teacher salary increases and career development

Angara pledges support for teacher salary increases and career development

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The newly installed education chief also promises to improve the teacher promotion system and teachers’ workload

MANILA, Philippines – While rejecting proposals to increase teachers’ starting salary to 50,000 pesos, newly installed Education Secretary Sonny Angara expressed confidence that teachers would get a better compensation package under the Marcos government.

“It’s just a matter of how much and when that is true, but I have confidence during the Marcos government in tatas and sweetened with sugar,Angara said this during the swearing-in ceremony at the Malacañang Palace on Friday, July 19. (It remains to be seen how many and when the oath will be taken, but I am confident that it will happen during the Marcos administration.)

Improving the welfare of teachers was one of the directives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to Angara. The president stressed that the government should financially support teachers who have families to feed.

Teachers’ groups have been asking the government for a better compensation package. Currently, those with the Teacher 1 designation earn P27,000 a month. For years, many of them have left the country in search of better pay and working conditions.

But Angara said it is impossible to give teachers a P23,000 salary increase, and the government cannot afford it.

“Kung P23,000 (increase) times 900,000 (teachers), mas mataas pa ‘yun sa national budget, sa totoo lang,” he said. (If we give them a raise of P23,000, and multiply that by 900,000 teachers, the total amount would be more than the national budget, frankly.)

In addition to a better salary package, the director of education also promised to improve career opportunities for teachers.

“Narinig natin ‘yung mga reklamo na ‘yung mga labing limang taon, Teacher 1 pa lang sila. So, ayusin namin ‘yung promotion system is gobyerno. Tingnan nat yung mga benepisyon nila, ‘yung education tax nila,’ Angara said this during a separate event in Quezon City on Saturday, July 20.

(We heard complaints that there are teachers who have been in service for 15 years but are still at the Teacher 1 level. So we are going to fix the government promotion system. We are going to check their benefits and teaching load.)

Angara realized that teachers contribute the most to the learning development of students. That is why she promised to provide them with more training so that they can improve the quality of their education.

According to a 2016 World Bank study, teachers’ knowledge and the methods they use to teach a subject were “key determinants of student learning outcomes in the Philippines.” The study found that “subject knowledge among primary and secondary school teachers is low in most subjects.”

For example, a World Bank study found that a high school math teacher could answer only 31% of questions “completely correctly,” less than half of the questions.

“Given that the tests are closely aligned with the curriculum, the results suggest that teachers face significant challenges in teaching a substantial portion of the current curriculum for grades K through 12,” the study said.


Angara pledges support for teacher salary increases and career development

Angara replaced Vice President Sara Duterte as education chief. She resigned on June 19, effectively leaving the Marcos administration. Duterte had said she was stepping down “out of concern for teachers and the Filipino youth.” – Rappler.com