Solon urges DepEd to pay teachers’ extra working days

ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro reminded the Department of Education (DepEd) to properly compensate teachers amid the extended working school year.

Castro wrote a letter to DepEd on April 9 about the payment for teachers’ additional working days and other concerns in the education sector. However, DepEd has not replied to her inquiry as of this posting.

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“Kung ito ay ‘di na talaga natin maiiwasan, bayaran ang overtime pay at pagpahingahin naman ang ating mga kaguruan” (If we cannot avoid this [extended working school year], teachers should be compensated with overtime pay and they should be allowed to rest, too), Castro said in a virtual press conference.

Castro said in a separate statement that teachers have to report for additional 77 working days on top of the mandated 220 school days in one school year. She pointed out that teachers have no academic break due to numerous paperwork and additional tasks due to the implementation of the distance learning scheme.

“Our public school teachers would have been working for almost 13 months without an official summer break or vacation. Further, public school teachers do not have sick and vacation benefits unlike other employees in the public and private sectors,” Castro said.

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Solon urges DepEd to pay teachers’ extra working days

“We demand that the Department of Education clarify the proportional vacation pay for School Year 2020-2021 and for the department to issue a memorandum for its implementation,” she added.

DepEd earlier extended the school year for basic education to July 10, 2021, to address learning gaps among students and to give teachers time for the different learning delivery modalities.

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Castro said that according to Civil Service Commission Memorandum Circular No 40. s. 1998, as amended by CSC MC no.9.s. 2012, public school teachers are entitled to proportional vacation pay.

The solon called on the Duterte administration to secure the welfare of teachers, who are also hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Giving priority to teachers’ welfare also shows how the government prioritizes education continuity and the youth’s right to quality education,” she said.