Increasing their annual “chalk allowance” should be part of a package of amelioration measures for our public school teachers.

The package should include a pay raise, an increase in their clothing allowance, a hike in chalk allowance, the creation of higher ranks, and increasing the tax-free Personnel Economic Relief Allowance.

The most important of the five is the pay raise. But its grant should not cancel the four. The grant of the increases in the some of the other allowances may be given in installments, but the first down payment must be given now.

In the case of the chalk allowance, increasing it from the present P3,500 to P5,000 will only entail an additional P1.25 billion, which government revenues can provide.

Increasing the clothing allowance by, say, P2,000, from the present P6,000 to P8,000 will require an additional P1.81 billion, which, again, government is capable of giving.

My proposal was for a P10,000 annual Teaching Supplies Allowance (TSA). I respect the wisdom of my colleagues in pegging a lower amount.

But I hope that floor debates on the measure will bring to fore the need for a higher amount.

The present P3,500 TSA translates to a P16 a day budget for all the instructional supplies a teacher needs. It amounts to 50 centavos budget per student a day.

Hindi talaga kasya. Especially in this digital age, when IT-assisted learning is the norm, which requires computer-and broadband-use related supplies.

Dahil si Titser ay may tambak na homework din, kailangan niya ng dagdag na supplies para sa mountains and gigabytes ng reports na kailangan niyang maipasa.

Chalk allowance is to teachers as what bullets are to soldiers. But we don’t ask our soldiers to buy their own bullets out of their own meager pay.

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RELATED ARTICLES:

• 2019 OCT 05: 772K teachers stranded in deadend positions for lack of higher ranks
• 2019 SEP 22: P7.4 B Science scholarship budget to include 1,927 PHD, 4,264 MA students
• 2019 AUG 10: On ‘wow mali’ books delivery, delays in rooms, computers
• 2019 AUG 01: Recto says CHED deserves incomplete grade for fund underutilization
• 2019 JUL 11: Recto seeks 300% hike in teacher ‘chalk allowance’, to P10,000 a year

SENATE BILLS/AUTHORED LAWS:

• Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education (RA 10931)
• Enhancing the Philippine Basic Education System (K to 12 Program) (RA 10533)
• Kindergarten Education Act (RA 10157)
• Teaching Supplies Allowance Act (Senate Bill No. 42)
• Salary Standardization Law V (Senate Bill No. 49)
• Increasing Teachers’ Salary (Senate Bill No. 466)
• ICT in Education (Senate Bill No. 594)
• Salary Standardization Law V (Senate Bill No. 1006)