By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
Based on her unsympathetic statements regarding the clamor of public school teachers for the fulfilment of the pay hike promised by President Rodrigo Duterte during the campaign, Education Secretary Leonor Briones’ heart is not with our public school teachers. Instead of being stung that soldiers and the police already got the promised increase and thereby be spurred to importune the President to treat the teachers likewise, Briones makes all these ridiculous excuses for the delay in the grant of the increase.
Last week of October, she was quoted in media as asking that if teachers were poorly paid, how come they are not leaving DepEd. During the same interview, she claimed that compared with their private school counterparts, public school teachers get 30-50 percent more. So where does she expect the poor teachers to transfer when she herself said that the situation in the private sector is worse? Does she, the Education Secretary, want our teachers to leave their classrooms and abandon their pupils to try their luck abroad? Does she not understand that clinging to a job does not necessarily mean one is satisfied with the compensation, that it is possible one just does not have other options?
But speaking about her as a leader of the teachers, she totally misses the point when she trotted out the case of the private school teachers to try and prove that public school teachers are adequately compensated. The logical reference here are the police and the soldiers: they now enjoy the promised raises while teachers could only watch longingly. It is ironic that the official who should be pressing the President to fulfil his promise to teachers throws cold water on their cause instead.
And just this week, Briones was quoted in the papers as saying that she does not oppose pay increase for teachers but “they should first be armed with financial literacy.” She said that increasing the salaries of teachers is not enough to rescue them from or keep them from falling into the debt trap; they should also learn to avoid overspending and living beyond their means and for this purpose, they are to undergo financial literacy seminars.
She insults the teachers by attributing all their debt problems to lack of financial literacy. It never occurs to her that lowly paid government employees cannot help but borrow to meet needs such as the education of their children, hospitalization, shelter, etc. simply because their pay is barely enough for their survival.
Going by her logic that teachers need to learn to use money well before they be given an increase, what happens to the teachers who have been astute in financial matters all their lives? Should my wife Florence who was able to set aside a little from her barely P1,000.00 monthly salary as classroom teacher in a private school (she transferred to public school later) to buy building materials little by little enabling us to start the construction of our house after seven years and my classroom teacher sister-in-law, who, along with her tricycle driver husband, has succeeded in sending all her four children to college one of whom is now a lawyer and all other money smart public school teachers in the country be lumped together with their one day millionaire colleagues? Following her logic, fairness demands that the two groups of teachers be treated differently. Does Briones have a scheme to get this done in place? Or has she ever thought of it in the first place?
And where in the world and what provision of law ties employee’s judicious use of his salary with his right to salary increase? What would happen if this insane idea of Briones were adopted by all employers in the country?
Briones also appears ill informed of the plight of public school teachers when she reminded teachers not to use their own money for classroom supplies because these are provided for in the schools’ maintenance and other operating expenses. She did not mention other expenses being incurred by teachers to enable them to fulfil their work some of which are more burdensome than classroom supplies. Education officials encourage teachers to use new technology in teaching but since the school has limited number of these equipment, teachers buy their own. DepEd has no money for school band expenses so the one in-charge must find ways and means. Neither does DepEd provide the money for students and their coaches to participate in competitions so the coaches must be resourceful otherwise, they just use money meant for their families. And yes, classrooms must not be bare but “conducive to learning” otherwise school authorities will ask the teacher what kind of teacher she is and neither does DepEd have provisions for this need.
If she is sincerely concerned about the plight of teachers, Briones may want to know the whole gamut of the teaching-related expenses teachers incur, if such can be avoided or not and how much these needs eat into the income of teachers. A study on how teachers are “subsidizing” some needs of the DepEd is long overdue specially so that the current Education Secretary is apparently only aware of the teachers’ problems with the sourcing of their classroom supplies. It is possible that the national officials of the DepEd are honestly ignorant of this aspect of the existence of our education frontliners and it is time such ignorance is cured. **
Last week of October, she was quoted in media as asking that if teachers were poorly paid, how come they are not leaving DepEd. During the same interview, she claimed that compared with their private school counterparts, public school teachers get 30-50 percent more. So where does she expect the poor teachers to transfer when she herself said that the situation in the private sector is worse? Does she, the Education Secretary, want our teachers to leave their classrooms and abandon their pupils to try their luck abroad? Does she not understand that clinging to a job does not necessarily mean one is satisfied with the compensation, that it is possible one just does not have other options?
But speaking about her as a leader of the teachers, she totally misses the point when she trotted out the case of the private school teachers to try and prove that public school teachers are adequately compensated. The logical reference here are the police and the soldiers: they now enjoy the promised raises while teachers could only watch longingly. It is ironic that the official who should be pressing the President to fulfil his promise to teachers throws cold water on their cause instead.
And just this week, Briones was quoted in the papers as saying that she does not oppose pay increase for teachers but “they should first be armed with financial literacy.” She said that increasing the salaries of teachers is not enough to rescue them from or keep them from falling into the debt trap; they should also learn to avoid overspending and living beyond their means and for this purpose, they are to undergo financial literacy seminars.
She insults the teachers by attributing all their debt problems to lack of financial literacy. It never occurs to her that lowly paid government employees cannot help but borrow to meet needs such as the education of their children, hospitalization, shelter, etc. simply because their pay is barely enough for their survival.
Going by her logic that teachers need to learn to use money well before they be given an increase, what happens to the teachers who have been astute in financial matters all their lives? Should my wife Florence who was able to set aside a little from her barely P1,000.00 monthly salary as classroom teacher in a private school (she transferred to public school later) to buy building materials little by little enabling us to start the construction of our house after seven years and my classroom teacher sister-in-law, who, along with her tricycle driver husband, has succeeded in sending all her four children to college one of whom is now a lawyer and all other money smart public school teachers in the country be lumped together with their one day millionaire colleagues? Following her logic, fairness demands that the two groups of teachers be treated differently. Does Briones have a scheme to get this done in place? Or has she ever thought of it in the first place?
And where in the world and what provision of law ties employee’s judicious use of his salary with his right to salary increase? What would happen if this insane idea of Briones were adopted by all employers in the country?
Briones also appears ill informed of the plight of public school teachers when she reminded teachers not to use their own money for classroom supplies because these are provided for in the schools’ maintenance and other operating expenses. She did not mention other expenses being incurred by teachers to enable them to fulfil their work some of which are more burdensome than classroom supplies. Education officials encourage teachers to use new technology in teaching but since the school has limited number of these equipment, teachers buy their own. DepEd has no money for school band expenses so the one in-charge must find ways and means. Neither does DepEd provide the money for students and their coaches to participate in competitions so the coaches must be resourceful otherwise, they just use money meant for their families. And yes, classrooms must not be bare but “conducive to learning” otherwise school authorities will ask the teacher what kind of teacher she is and neither does DepEd have provisions for this need.
If she is sincerely concerned about the plight of teachers, Briones may want to know the whole gamut of the teaching-related expenses teachers incur, if such can be avoided or not and how much these needs eat into the income of teachers. A study on how teachers are “subsidizing” some needs of the DepEd is long overdue specially so that the current Education Secretary is apparently only aware of the teachers’ problems with the sourcing of their classroom supplies. It is possible that the national officials of the DepEd are honestly ignorant of this aspect of the existence of our education frontliners and it is time such ignorance is cured. **
