Ralph Vincent I.

Honorico November 6, 2018

2- Sanchez Roman

Salary of Public School Teachers in the Philippines

Introduction
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte once said that “Education is the single most
important legacy that we can bestow upon our youth. It opens doors for countless
opportunities that will lead to their further empowerment, greater success and the
realization of their individual aspirations”.
Education as a component of a state plays a vital role in the success and
development of the country. It nourishes the children into becoming the future leaders of
the country. As the saying goes, “Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan.” which means
that the youth is the future of our country. Therefore, the government shall ensure that
quality education is given to the people. Giving quality education to the youth is one of
the key factors in solving poverty in the Philippines and in order to achieve such, our
country need competent teachers.

However, the education system in the Philippines faces several issues. One of the
issue is overworked and underpaid teaching staff. A teacher plays a vital role in an
educational system. Teachers are best known for the role of educating the students that
are placed in their care. Beyond that, teachers serve many other roles in the classroom.
Teachers are extremely important component of any society for a number of reasons and
their role in society is both significant and valuable. They can be considered as the
backbone of the education system because without them, it would not work. It is important
to give attention to teachers, particularly their salary.

Problem and Status Quo

“The State recognizes the complementary roles of public and private institutions in
the educational system and shall exercise reasonable supervision and regulation of all
educational institutions.”(Article XIV, Section 4 [1]).
To this end, Article XIV, Section 5 (5) of the 1987 Constitution provides that: “The
State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education and ensure that teaching
will attract and retain its rightful share of the best available talents through adequate
remuneration and other means of job satisfaction and fulfillment.”

However, the current situation of public teachers in our country do not abide with
such constitutional provision. They should be given due attention and importance in terms
of compensation because they are unappreciated, overworked and underpaid. Their
salary is very low considering the high cost of living nowadays. Currently teachers are
receiving a basic salary of Php 20,754.00 under the Fourth Tranche of the Salary
Standardization Law 4 (SSL4), a slight increase from Php 18,549.00 they are previously
receiving under SSL 3. They are under salary grade 11.

The current cost of living in the Philippines should be considered in increasing the
salary of public school teachers.

High inflation rate, fuel price hikes, and higher prices of commodities are only few
of the several factors that should be considered in determining the average cost of living
per family in the Philippines. Families nowadays are having difficulties in budgeting their
income in order to sustain their needs. Some teachers resort to other businesses other
than teaching because their salary is not enough. Hence, the salary of a teacher should
be increased as to make their lives comfortable.

The most important reason why should the government increase the salary of
public school teachers is the nature of the work that is being done by them.

Teachers are the one who are molding the children into becoming the future
leaders of the country. They are the one who impart knowledge to the children in order
for them to be not an illiterate. Their work does not only evolve around the four corners of
the classroom. It is not just limited to teaching children lessons and giving exams inside
the classrooms.

Aside from classroom instructions, teachers perform a host of backbreaking and

time-consuming jobs unrelated to the teaching function. The National Research and
Development Center for Teacher Education under the DECS listed 76 extracurricular
activities performed by public school teachers. Such activities include Operation
Timbang, census taking, tax consciousness drive, Clean and Green Drive, Alay-
Tanim, Alay-Lakad, fund raising campaigns, lining the streets to welcome foreign
dignitaries, etc. To do all these, teachers are forced to work two or three hours overtime
every day. They also have to report during weekends and holidays and even during their
yearly vacation time. These additional duties make their work more strenuous which
require more time and effort which is outside the scope of teaching.

Some teachers in far flung areas are compelled to walk for several kilometers just
to teach in the school. They are sacrificing in order to fulfill their duty as a teacher.
However, such sacrifices is without reward but they continue to teach because it is their
duty to do so.

Furthermore, their work is much more difficult because of lack of resources.

Shortage of classrooms, overcrowded classrooms, lack of teaching materials are only
some of the many factors that make the work of a teacher more difficult. In fact, groups
such as Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines and Teachers’ Dignity
Coalition (TDC) have been calling the attention of Department of Education on the “heavy
workload” of public school teachers which, according to them, greatly takes toll on the
“physical and mental” health of the educators.

These are only few of the many factors that is considered in increasing the salary
of public school teachers. Failure to address this problem will not develop or even
deteriorate the system of education in the Philippines.

One of the factors that people consider in determining their respective career path
is the compensation that they will receive. It means that if such career or profession does
not compensate well, no one will choose such profession.

Some consider teaching as a passion and a calling that is why it is still chosen by
people as a profession. However, the brightest and most competent teachers will tend to
teach abroad or even choose another work or business since teachers in the country are
not well compensated here in the Philippines.

According to Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, increasing teachers' pay is not

the government's priority. He added that "I think that is not a priority at this time. Our
priority is 'Build, Build, Build' and the social protection, taking care of the poor,"

According to the Government, the salary increase for public school teachers is not
addressed because of insufficiency of funds. Despite education as the top priority in the
budget of the Philippines, still, it is unable to solve the problem in the country’s education
system with regard to teachers’ salary.

As of now, the building of additional schools and classrooms are the top priority
of our government in terms of improving the educational system in our country. That is
the reason why there is still no salary increase for public school teachers. It must be
stressed that teachers are also equally important in developing and improving the
educational system in the country.

Solution

The present minimum salary grade level of public school teachers shall be
increased substantially considering the high cost of living in the country and the nature
and difficulty of their work as teachers. It shall be increased from Php 20,754.00 to Php
42,099.00 or from salary grade 11 to salary grade 19.

The government shall appropriate an amount in the budget for the increase of
salary of the teachers. It shall be prioritized over non-agricultural and non-educational
budgetary allocations. There must be a specific budget program in order to implement
address the upgrade of salary of public school teachers.
 In increasing the salary of teachers, they will be able to live comfortably and they
will be able to sustain their family needs. As the prices of the commodities are now higher
in the market, higher income is required in order for one to be able to provide for one’s
family. Aside from sustaining their needs, a higher salary will enable them to save more
money for investments and future purposes. Through such salary increase, teachers will
be able to say that the profession of their choice is given importance by the government.

The nature and difficulty of the work of a teacher will be justified if their salary will
be substantially increased. Their sacrifices in walking for miles will be worth it. Given the
strenuous work of a teacher, it is just right for their salary to be increased. As stated, the
nature of the work of a teacher does not only include teaching inside the classroom. It
involves facilitating programs carried out by the government. Hence, given such additional
work, their salary should be increased in order to compensate the difficulty and load of
work that they are doing.

Lastly, being a teacher is one of the noble profession in the country but because
of the compensation that teachers are receiving, some people don’t choose it as a career.
The government must give importance to teachers because they are the instruments in
building the future of the country. They are responsible for imparting knowledge to the
youth in order to mold and prepare them for the future and enable them to contribute for
the betterment of the country. Hence the salary of the teachers should be increased to
justify and to give dignity to the profession.

Conclusion

Education is the key for the country’s global competitiveness. Education in every
sense is one of the fundamental factors of development. Education enriches people’s
understanding of themselves and world. It plays a very crucial role in securing economic
and social progress and improving income distribution and one component of an
educational system is a teacher.

In connection, teachers play an extraordinary part as well in the lives of children

for the formative years of their development and the importance of teachers is something
that cannot be understated. They involve themselves in molding their students into
responsible citizens of their country.

No country can achieve sustainable economic development without substantial

investment in human capital. Hence, the government should invest on teachers to raise
the quality of education in the country by elevating the salary of public school teachers to
a decent level to compensate their huge responsibility as molders of the young Filipino.

The salary increase for public school teachers will encourage many people to be
teachers. The country will be able to retain intelligent and competent teacher that will
nurture our children in becoming productive partners in nation-building.
 The government was able to increase the wages of the policeman of the country
and such increase is substantially huge. While it is true that our policemen plays a vital
role in implementing our laws and for maintaining peace and order in the country, but it
should be noted that teachers also have a huge part in the development of the country.
The government should give equal importance to them. If it is able to increase the salary
of policemen, why not do it for teachers. Both of them play a vital role in the society and
one must not be favored over the other.

Teachers are active partners of the state in ensuring quality education for the
children. To such end, the State is constitutionally and socially obliged to ensure their
economic well-being, among others. Therefore, the salary of public school teacher should
be increased to salary grade 11 to salary grade 19.

Sources:

1. https://readfoundation.org.uk/blog/the-importance-of-teachers-in-our-society/
2. https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/9023.html
3. https://www.dbm.gov.ph/wp-
content/uploads/Issuances/2018/National%20Budget%20Circular/NBC-
No572.pdf
4. http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/basic_17/HB00119.pdf
5. https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/08/04/deped-assures-public-school-teachers-of-
review-on-workload-other-issues/
6. https://www.imbalife.com/7-key-issues-and-problems-of-philippine-education
7. http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/01/10/Teacher-salary-hike.html