Teacher union petitions for Salary Grade 15 entry-level pay

Around 50,000 National Capital Region public school teachers sought congressional help in raising their entry-level salaries from Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 15.

"The overworked, underpaid and under-supported state of our teachers and education workers sits at the core of the learning crisis and serves as a major roadblock to education recovery," said the ACT NCR teachers union in their petition submitted to the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.

"It only serves the best interests of the education sector and the nation as a whole to uplift the conditions of our teachers and education support personnel by granting them significant and just salary upgrading and increase."

The teachers union said that their salary levels had long been left behind by those of other professions, such as nurses and uninformed personnel, while increased taxes and mandatory contributions had eroded the scant pay adjustments implemented in the past years.

"While take home pay of teachers and education support personnel can hardly support their families' needs, these are further drained by out-of-pocket expenses for teaching and classroom needs," they added.

Aside from upgrading the entry-level salary of public school teachers from Salary Grade 11 to Salary Grade 15, the teachers are also seeking the following reforms:

• increasing the entry-level salary of instructors in local and state universities and colleges from Salary Grade 12 to Salary Grade 16 and implement corresponding upgrades for other positions;
• setting the minimum salary of private school teachers at P30,000 per month and
• setting a national minimum living wage of Salary Grade 1 education workers in government and education support personnel in private schools.

"President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has promised in his electoral campaign to take care of the welfare of teachers and of the whole education sector once elected in office. We urge the current administration to alleviate our teachers and education support personnel of their crippling economic hardships," they added.

The Education Department, headed by Vice President Sara Duterte, earlier said it was looking at granting non-financial benefits, such as health insurance, to teachers. — DVM, GMA News