Latest pay hike no relief for public school teachers
MANILA, Philippines—Rolando Malicdem has been a public school teacher for 28 years. After deductions, he takes home P5,252 out of his P14,266 salary.
It’s the sort of arithmetic that could leave even his class of fifth graders scratching their heads.
“It’s up to us to adjust,” said Malicdem, who now raises five children all by himself after his wife, a fellow teacher, died of breast cancer in April last year.
Life was much easier when his beloved Ester was still around. Since her death, unpaid bills have been piling up. Once among the family’s prized possessions, their jeep is now in a state of disrepair, gathering dust outside their two-bedroom home in Valenzuela City.
Two of the children have dropped out of college.
“I have to make both ends meet, but how could I do that when I have so little?” said the widower, who teaches at Gen. T. De Leon Elementary School in Valenzuela.
His pained question resonates among the 500,000 teachers serving the country’s public education system. Each school year, they have to cope with the perennial lack of textbooks, equipment, classrooms—and with salaries deemed too low given the heavy workload.
“Our foremost criticism is the government’s nonprioritization of the basic needs of the field. We need facilities and, most importantly, we need good teachers. Thus, we need the best training they can get and the best compensation package the government may grant,” said Benjo Basas, chair of Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC).
“We believe that in order to attract the best available talents in the profession, teachers must be paid enough to live a decent and dignified life. We would like to reiterate that all the education reform measures would fail without seriously considering the welfare of the teachers,” Basas stressed.
“The salary must be at par with the rest of the world, where teaching is regarded as the most important job and the noblest of all professions. Aside from this, teachers must also be given nonwage incentives like medical care, decent housing, education for their children and tax incentives,” he added.
According to TDC, an entry-level teacher will be receiving a monthly pay of P17,099 starting this June.
The adjusted amount includes the third tranche of the P6,500 total pay increase (released in four installments) that was approved during the Arroyo administration.
But even with the latest raise, Malicdem could hardly feel any relief, what with the monthly cuts on his slip to pay off loans incurred through the years for his growing—and now motherless—family.
Worse, this school year comes with a bitter irony: Malicdem, after devoting almost three decades to teaching, finds himself unable to put his two eldest children through college.
Godfrey, 24, was forced to stop his computer engineering studies, while Glenice Jane, 22, also had to quit her computer science course. Both dropped out in their sophomore year.
Like many teachers who are hard up, Malicdem tries to earn extra by taking a “sideline”—supplying snacks to the school canteen. This “seasonal” venture earns him P500 on a good week.
Now, the lone breadwinner is simply doing his best to keep his three other children—Godwin Glenn, 20, Gisselle, 17, and Glyneth, 8—in school.
“I am now doing the job of a mother and a father. Our (teachers’) income is way below the poverty level, so how can we send our children to school?” Malicdem said.
He said the idea of working abroad had crossed his mind, but “the love for teaching” kept him from leaving.
“You feel fulfilled when you see your students learning. That’s your reward,” he said.
