Aliping pushes P3,000 allowance for teachers

BAGUIO CITY – Rep.Nicasio M. Aliping, Jr. is pushing for additional instructional materials' allowance of three thousand pesos per month for public school teachers of basic and higher education nationwide.

House Bill 039 to be known as An Act Providing Instructional Materials” Allowance For Public School Teachers was approved by the House Committee on Basic Education And Culture on October 29, 2014.

Aliping said “It is a known fact that public school teachers are underpaid. What is not known is the fact that the meager pay that teachers receive is further reduced by the cost of instructional materials that they often have to dig out of their own pockets.”

“These instructional materials come in the form of test papers, instruction module presentation, charts for clarity of explanation, maps, and other necessary tools that regularly cost money to produce and can only be used once for every student or every class session to enhance the teaching learning interaction,” said Aliping.

The bill seeks to provide instructional materials' allowance amounting to three thousand pesos per month for public school teachers of basic and higher education nationwide including those who are teaching in the Alternative Learning System of the Department of Education.

The bill states that “the amount provided as instructional materials' allowance for public school teachers under this section shall be subject to regular adjustment every five (5) years. The extent of the adjustment shall be determined by the agency concerned with the implementation of this Act in coordination with the Department of Budget and Management.”

“Disregarding the need to provide instructional materials’ allowance for teachers will not only lead to reduced pay for lowly paid teachers but also raise the specter of worsening the already poor quality of education that public schools students receive,” Aliping said.

“The budget necessary for the implementation shall be included in the annual budget of the Department of Education, State Universities and Colleges,” Aliping said. “The Department of Education, State Universities and Colleges shall issue their corresponding rules and regulations necessary once the bill is approved,” he said.