P29B not enough, say teachers

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Allocating billions of pesos for a stabilization fund may not be enough to address the multitude of problems arising from the K to 12 program, particularly those facing teachers who have been engaged in the profession for years.

Setting up a P29-billion stabilization fund to help higher education institutions and displaced teachers and other personnel is just a “palliative” measure, said one school official, as faculty members from colleges and universities aired their fears, including loss of jobs, tenure and other nonmonetary benefits, at a House hearing on Tuesday.

An estimated 30,000 teachers could be at risk of losing their jobs because there would be very few, if not nil, freshmen college and university students in 2016 and 2017 because the two additional years of senior high school would be in existence by then under the K to 12 program.

Teachers have appealed to the government to help them keep their jobs and their nonmonetary benefits, which for some include free education for their children studying in the university or institution where they work.

At the hearing, Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) officials discussed the proposed P29-billion stabilization fund over five years, with P10 billion to be initially released, and smaller amounts allocated in succeeding years.

The amount is intended to help private colleges and universities that would be losing income because of the absence of college freshmen, as well as provide financial assistance to teachers and personnel who are bound to lose their jobs. The displaced personnel would also be given help in looking for new jobs, CHEd officials said.

Of the proposed P29 billion, P10 billion is earmarked for higher education institutions, P17 billion for displaced teachers and P2 billion for the nonteaching personnel to be affected.

Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo, chair of the House higher education committee, asked CHEd and labor officials to iron out the details concerning the use of the funds, and to have a sense of urgency in formulating the plans related to the K to 12 program to address the growing pains of the transition period.

“Please have a sense of urgency because some have begun to implement a retrenchment policy. We need a solid policy,” Romulo said.

The congressman said he was supporting the fund or anything else that would help.

He said it would be best to have as few teachers as possible losing their jobs because of the K to 12 program.

“We should aim for zero displacement,” Romulo said.

The teachers said there should be guidelines on selecting which teachers to retain, and to address the concerns of college professors who would have to teach high school with the attendant fear that a lighter load could mean correspondingly lower salaries.

Rene Luis Tadle of the University of Santo Tomas said there were concerns that college teachers would be asked to retire by 2016, and then told they would be rehired in two years.

This results in contractualization as well as loss of tenure for the professors, said Tadle. Losing teaching jobs would also mean loss of free education in the same school for the children of the teachers, he added.

He said the college teachers could shift to teaching senior high school, but this could result in decreased pay.

“We feel the [the stabilization fund] is too palliative. [It’s as if we’re told] you have a problem, so we will pay you and you should keep quiet,” he told the hearing.

Romulo said he agreed that the stabilization fund was palliative as of now because there were few specifics on how it would be used.

“How about the non-monetary benefits? This has to be addressed. If they can’t, they should say so for everybody to be informed,” he said.

Flordeliz Abanto of St. Scholastica’s College said the solution to have college professors teach senior high school was too simplistic. She said teachers could expect to get a lower teaching load, which means their status could be downgraded to part-time teachers.

Abanto said the implementing rules and regulations for the K to 12 program were too vague or ambiguous.

“The reality is there is so much uncertainty,” she said.

Party-list House member Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers) suggested that education and labor officials really reconsider their acceptance of the inevitability of retrenchment.

If the government is able to subsidize the displaced teachers, there may be no need to retrench them, he said.