Sonny Angara vows full support to raise teachers' salaries

Incoming Education secretary Senator Sonny Angara on Wednesday said he would study the proposal to increase the entry-level salary of public school teachers to P50,000.

Angara, who was named by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. as the successor of Vice President Sara Duterte at the Department of Education (DepEd), said he not only wants better working conditions for teachers, but also improved salaries and benefits for them.

"Ang sweldo is set by the Congress kapag nagkakaron tayo ng increases o umento sa [sahod ng] mga empleyado ng gobyerno. And 100% suportado tayo diyan at tinutulak po natin 'yan, especially nu'ng member pa tayo ng Senate Committee [on Finance]," he said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.

(The salary increase of government employees is set by the Congress. And we are 100% supportive of that and we have been pushing for that, especially when I was part of the Senate Committee on Finance.)

Asked if it was possible to raise the salary of entry-level teachers to as much as P50,000, Angara said that he would look into it in coordination with other agencies like the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

"Tignan ho natin, pag-aralan natin (Let's see and study it)," Angara said.

"Pero tayo, hundred percent in support po tayo for all of these teachers' increases dahil alam natin na apektado 'yung kalidad ng edukasyon kapag talagang inspired 'yung mga teachers at you attract the best, 'yung pinakamagagaling, the best and the brightest ika nga," he added.

(But 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, at the same time, we also get to attract the best and the brightest.)

Last February, Makabayan bloc lawmakers France Castro of ACT Teachers party-list, Arlene Brosas of Gabriela party-list and Raoul Manuel of Kabataan partylist filed House Bill 9920, seeking a P50,000 entry-level salary for public school teachers.

The proposed substantial salary increases for public school teachers was made, the bill's authors said, "to close the gap between their salaries and the cost of living." They said it would also "address the distortion created by the doubling of entry-level pay of military and uniformed personnel."

Aside from increased salary, Angara said he aims to give teachers better working conditions by reducing their non-teaching tasks so they could concentrate on their main duty.

Earlier this year, Duterte released an order directing public schools to relieve teachers of their administrative tasks.

During her second Basic Education Report presentation, Duterte said that 5,000 more administrative personnel would be hired in 2024, and additional funds for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) would be given to schools for recruitment.

Gadget ban

Angara, who is set to replace Duterte as DepEd secretary this July, also backed the proposal to prohibit the use of mobile phones and other gadgets inside classrooms to let students focus more on their studies.

"Well mas maganda talaga hindi distracted ang isang estudyante sa loob ng silid-aralan," he said.

(Well, it's better if a student is not distracted in the classroom.)

He said that many countries have also restricted the use of cellphones inside classrooms.

It was Senate basic education committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian who earlier filed Senate Bill 2706 or the proposed Electronic Gadget-Free Schools Act, prohibiting kindergarten to senior high school students and teachers in all public and private schools from using electronic gadgets within the school premises during class hours.

Gatchalian noted that the excessive use of mobile devices has negative effects on learners' performance, adding that access to such devices "seems likely to mediate involvement in cyberbullying."

However, for Teachers' Dignity Coalition (TDC), there should only be a strict regulation on the use of mobile phones and other gadgets during class hours, rather than totally banning them.

The group also argued that smartphones provide benefits in the learning process of students, as they can be used for research and accessing modules and other learning materials even while in school. — VDV, GMA Integrated News