Angara vows improved pay, work conditions for teachers

Sen. Sonny Angara—Senate PRIB

Incoming Education Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara said on Thursday that improving the benefits of teachers would be among his priorities as he vowed to look into proposals seeking to increase their salaries.

Angara added that he would also focus on simplifying the curriculum and improving the quality of teaching and teachers’ working conditions.

“I’m confident that under the Marcos administration, there will be an increase in our teachers’ salaries … I’m just not sure if [it will be] this year or next year, but there will be an increase,” he said in a radio interview.

READ: Angara says pay hike for public school teachers possible

In February, the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives filed House Bill No. 9920, which seeks to raise the minimum monthly salary for teachers to P50,000.

The lawmakers said they hoped to close the gap between teachers’ salaries and the cost of living and address the distortion created by the doubling of the entry-level pay of military and uniformed personnel.

Angara said he would study the proposal in coordination with other agencies, such as the Department of Finance and the Department of Budget and Management.

All-out support

“We are one hundred percent in support of all these increases for teachers because we know that the quality of education is affected when the teachers are really inspired. And we also get to attract the best and the brightest,” he said.

Angara pointed out that he had been pushing for a wage hike for government employees, especially “when I was part of the Senate committee on finance.”

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