Angara: Teaching supplies aid to remain a ‘priority’ in nat’l budget

FILE PHOTO: Senator Sonny Angara. (Joseph Vidal /Senate Social Media Unit)

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Sonny Angara has promised to keep the teaching supplies allowance of public school teachers a priority expense under the General Appropriations Act.

Also known as “chalk allowance,” this annual budget is allocated to teachers to procure both tangible and intangible supplies and materials essential for their teaching duties.

Angara noted that the stipend has been consistently increasing over the years, from P700 per year in 2011 to P1,000 in 2012; P1,500 in 2016; P2,000 in 2017; P3,500 in 2018; and P5,000 from 2021 up to the present.

“Since taking over as chairman of the committee on finance in 2019, we have ensured that the teaching supplies allowance is always funded. The P5,000 a year that is currently being received by our teachers was already provided in 2021 even though the new law that will increase the amount was still in the pipeline,” he said in a statement on Saturday.

READ: Bill increasing teachers’ supplies allowance advances

According to the senator, P392 million was allocated in 2010 for the P700 per year teaching supplies allowance of 557,453 public school teachers.

But teachers population increased in the years after, and so bigger funding was earmarked for their annual teaching supplies allowance.

Angara said that in 2015, P1 billion was allocated for the item to support 681,024 teachers, and that from 2021 to present, the funding increased to P4 billion. The number of public school teachers this 2024 is at 965,082, he noted.

“Mahalaga na matugunan natin ang pangangailangan ng ating mga guro sa pagturo ng mga kabataan. Hindi na dapat nangyayari na nag-aabono pa ang mga guro para bumili ng supplies dahil sa kulang ang allowance na galing sa pamahalaan,” Angara said.

(It’s important that we provide the needs of our teachers in teaching young people. It should no longer happen that teachers have to shoulder expenses for their supplies because their allowance from the government is insufficient.)

READ: Senate okays proposed hike in teachers’ ‘chalk allowance’

Angara is one of the authors of Senate Bill No. 1964, or the Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act, which institutionalizes the grant of teaching supply allowances to public school teachers, recalled the consistent increase in stipends from the previous years.

Both the Senate and House of Representatives already ratified the bicameral conference committee report on Senate Bill No. 1964. It is now with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for review and signing.

Once the proposed measure is enacted into law, the teaching supplies allowance of public school teachers will be raised to P10,000 per year.