ANGARA PUSHES ANEW FOR TEACHERS' SALARY HIKE

Senator Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara is pushing anew for the immediate passage of a bill that seeks to increase the salary of public school teachers in elementary and secondary schools.

"As we celebrate our teachers' role in the society and nation building--most especially as molders of our children's future--we should also give priority to the interests and welfare of our hardworking teachers," Angara exclaimed.

Tomorrow, Oct. 5, is World Teachers' Day and the culmination of the celebration of the National Teachers' Month which began Sept. 5.

"Public school teachers are the heart of the Philippine public school system but they are among the most underpaid workers given their workload and service in the society. They receive a basic salary that does not commensurate to their contribution," he said.

Angara's Senate Bill No. 61 aims to upgrade the minimum salary grade (SG) level of teachers from SG 11 to 19.

If passed, the minimum salary of public school teachers will nearly double from its current monthly base pay of P18,549 to P33,859.

"I have filed this measure in the Lower House and I will continue to push for it here in the Upper House as one of our top priority bills. The salary increase, which will give relief to the 3.2 million financially burdened teachers, is long overdue. They deserve more than what they presently get," the neophyte senator stressed.

Angara, during his term as Aurora representative, was one of the authors of a joint resolution which urged the President to modify the compensation and position classification system in the government, known as the Salary Standardization Law III, which in turn, raised the salary of public school teachers.

The senator noted that the relatively low salaries received by our public school teachers have been a major disincentive for them to improve their skills in teaching and pursue further education and training.

He likewise pointed out that public schools have failed to attract the best and the brightest students from top colleges and universities because of the unattractive salary levels, preventing our public education system from benefiting from the knowledge and expertise of outstanding teachers.

"With this increase in salaries, more qualified and competent educators will be attracted to teach in public schools. Having inspired, capable teachers is probably one of the best investments our government could make.

"Definitely, this will greatly help motivate our teachers to strive for excellence in their field and thus, improve the quality of education in the public school system," Angara added.