MANILA, Philippines—The House committee on appropriations has agreed to look into the proposal of the Department of Education to upgrade the salary bracket of public school teachers which, if approved, would increase their basic pay.
Some congressmen had initially wanted to just incorporate proposals to increase the pay of teachers in the proposed new salary standardization law, which will increase the salaries of all government employees.
But education assistant secretary Jonathan Malaya said the education department felt this was unfair because it would not address the “basic disparity in salary grades.”
Malaya said the current salary grade of public school teachers equalled that of the lowest ranking policemen.
This was unfair, Malaya said, because the requirements for a public school teacher -- to complete a four-year course and pass the board exams and the civil service licensure exams, among others -- would match the requisites for a police inspector.
Public school teachers are under Salary Grade 10, which provides for a salary of roughly above P12,000. The education department is proposing to upgrade them to Salary Grade 17, with an entry salary of almost P19,000, Malaya said.
"We urge them (Congress) to either pass the bill the Senate had approved or include in the proposed new salary standardization law an increase in the salary grade of public school teachers," Malaya said in an interview.
The Senate has passed a bill seeking to provide additional allowances to public school employees which would increase their take-home pay by about P9,000 on top of a proposal to increase teachers' salaries by P3,000 every three years.
The approved Senate bill has a counterpart in Congress, but some congressmen had wanted to just incorporate it in the proposed new salary standardization law.
But during a hearing on Wednesday, the House Committee on Appropriations agreed to form a technical working group to look into adjusting the salary grade of public school teachers. The group would include representatives from the education department, Malaya said.
