NEWS | A teacher behind the screen: ‘overworked, undersupported, and stressed out’
By Jaxine Dominique Laguio
As the Alliance of Concerned Teachers’ (ACT) recent online survey revealed the worsened labor situation of public school teachers amidst distance learning, public school teachers continue to demand the government to address the serious welfare issues of public school teachers that erode their capacities, health and morale, and put education continuity in jeopardy.
Longer shifts without extra pay
Under the Memorandum 291 s. 2008, issued by the Department of Education (DepEd), the regular working hour for a teacher is only eight hours; six hours for teaching, and two hours for doing teaching-related activities. However, survey results show that 41 percent of teachers in Metro Manila said they work for more than eight hours per day. Whereas, 29 percent of teachers outside Metro Manila work for nine to 16 hours, or more, during school days.
The said survey was conducted from March 29 to April 11, with 6,731 public school teachers as respondents. Of which, 5,303 of teachers reside in the National Capital Region (NCR), while 1,428 are settled from other regions.
On top of that, teachers also spend hours of working during weekends. The survey finds 41 to 45 percent of the respondents work for up to four hours; 37 to 43 percent for eight hours, and 18 percent work longer than eight hours.
Ironically, with all the extra working hours, public school teachers do not receive overtime pay and service credit.
Moreover, ACT argued that public school teachers are being deprived of their rightful proportional vacation pay after serving a maximum of 220 class days in a school year. As the current school year requires teachers to provide 297 days of service, from June 1, 2020 to July 10, 2021, with no leave benefits.
The toll on a teacher’s well-being
There are many duties that a teacher fulfill, which includes the reporting on distance learning implementation, fulfilling the requirements for the teacher evaluation system results-based performance management system, and accomplishing the learning delivery modality course modules. Due to this 50 to 67 percent of respondents perceive such tasks as excessively burdensome.
Teachers are also being obliged to work outside their homes, despite DepEd’s alternative work arrangement order. Not to mention, an alarming number of COVID-19 cases, tantamount to 4,468, among students and teaching personnel were recorded by DepEd.
In regions outside Metro Manila, 58 percent of the respondents come to school three times or more, a week, while 24 percent report to school once or twice a week. While, in Metro Manila, 29 percent of teachers are ordered to report to school once or twice a week, as five percent come to school three times or more, a week.
Under those circumstances, more than 70 percent of teachers presume their workload had an adverse effect on both of their physical and mental health.
“Being the backbone of education delivery, the labor situation of public school teachers must be swiftly attended to and be given due consideration in the plans for the opening of the new school year,” ACT asserted.
High-cost expenses and indecent compensation
Concurrently, public school teachers shoulder the expenses for purchasing devices that would be used in distance learning. The survey showed that 69 percent of teachers in Metro Manila and 77 percent outside the capital use personally acquired laptops.
On the other hand, only four to six percent use laptops given by DepEd. Whereas, the same percentage of respondents have no laptops to use at all.
“The government had also failed miserably in paying for the supplies and operational expenses of distance learning as teachers shoulder the costs of internet connectivity, cellphone load, supplies for printed modules, and increased electricity consumption as they work from home,” the group expressed.
Moreover, ACT emphasized the dismal implementation upon the monthly reimbursement of communication expenses amounting to PHP 300. To such an extent, only 10 percent in NCR and one percent from other regions were reimbursed the highest allowable reimbursement amount up to PHP 3,000.
Furthermore, the majority of the teachers who have received partial payment of reimbursement were only handed a total of PHP 600 or lower.
What the teachers plea
ACT calls the government to uphold and protect the teachers’ right and welfare. Measures such as giving service credit and 25% overtime pay for the 77 overtime days in the current school year; immediate release of the overly-delayed 2019 Performance-based Bonus (PBB); Hazard pay for community-based activities; and the legislation of salary upgrading for teachers and education support personnel should also be to put into effect.
“Judging from the labor situation of public school teachers, education continuity amid the pandemic apparently hangs by a thread. Without urgent and necessary government interventions, education continuity could suffer as more teachers fall ill due to dire labor conditions, while not a few leave the teaching profession,” ACT contended.
