Be kind to teachers, Catholic schools told

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines president Archbishop Socrates Villegas. Photo from cbcpforlife.com

MANILA, Philippines—The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) of Friday called on all Catholic schools in the country to be charitable to teachers facing possible retrenchment over the K-to-12 program.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, CBCP President, said the labor law offers the options of redundancy and retrenchment, “provided legal conditions are complied with.”

“But charity is a law for Catholic schools that takes precedence over all human law…” he said in a statement.

Villegas said Catholic schools should now cope with the challenges posed by the new scheme as it was already futile to debate whether or not it should be adopted. But in addressing problems brought about by the K-to-12 program, they should be “person-oriented and mission-driven,” he said.

“By accepting appointment and engagement with our Catholic schools, a Catholic teacher is given the opportunity to truly serve God’s people, especially the young. This should not, however, lull our school administrators into complacency about the legitimate needs of our Catholic school employees,” he said.

Villegas noted that in 2016, higher education institutions, colleges and universities will have no freshmen as those who completed high school will have to move on to senior high school.

Some 30,000 teachers have been estimated to be at risk of losing their jobs as there would be very few, if not none, freshmen college and university students in 2016 and 2017 because the two additional years of senior high school would already be in existence by then under the K-to-12 scheme.

“Turning away many of the faithful coworkers we have had who have been loyal to our schools and to the local Church for all these years is a most unwelcome prospect and we dissuade our Catholic school administrators from finding recourse in these provisions of law all too easily,” said Villegas.

“Our Catholic school teachers and instructors should not be left to their own devices. Our priests who serve on positions of school directorship, must, in all charity and solicitude, aid them so that they may continue as our partners in the apostolate of Catholic education,” he added.

Villegas stressed that trustees, officials and administrators of Catholic school corporations must be creative and should provide opportunities for the retooling and retraining of instructors and professors in the tertiary education so that they can also teach subjects offered in senior high school.

Likewise, he encouraged existing Catholic colleges to operate senior high school if feasible and appropriate. This should not be a problem since most of the diocesan colleges also offer secondary school education, Villegas pointed out.

“And in the design of the curriculum for the additional years of high school, we direct that Catholic schools keep ever in mind the raison d’etre of our Catholic schools: evangelization and formation,” he said.

He also added that these institutions cannot shirk their responsibility of tailoring a curriculum that will fulfill their mandate of evangelization and formation to be able to “slavishly adhere” to the model curriculum.

As for the government, Villegas said it must provide Catholic schools assistance generously and without grudge “as our Catholic schools have been generous in helping build the nation.”

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