Teachers and education workers are set to stage a walkout in time for the commemoration of World Teachers’ Day on Oct. 3 (Friday), the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) announced on Tuesday.
The walkout will take place in Mendiola, according to ACT Chair Vladimer Quetua, as a sign of protest in marking the World Teachers’ Day to again demand for substantial education budget increase, salary hikes, and would even double as a call to end corruption and bureaucrat capitalism ‘that continue to deprive schools of resources.’
Quetua lamented how teachers continue to bear the brunt of persistent problems, especially in public schools, such as their meager wages, overcrowded and dilapidated classrooms, shortages in books and other learning materials, and the growing list of workloads.
While these problems remain unresolved, he pointed out that the government would rather spend its billions of funding on the ‘pork-laden’ infrastructure projects, confidential funds, and the continued funding for its counterinsurgency programs under the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, which, during the Duterte administration, had been notorious on linking government critics with the underground armed rebellion.
‘This won’t be just a simple celebration of World Teachers’ Day this year,’ Quetua said at a press conference in Quezon City. ‘We are all suffering from hunger and neglect while our officials are milking all funds intended for Filipinos, which include funds for education.’
The only way for them to be seen and heard again would be through their collective action in calling for an end to corruption and to press the government for higher salaries for teachers and more funding for the education sector.
Among their calls would be the increase of salary, suggesting that the increase for all teachers and education workers be increased to P50,000 as minimum for Teacher I rank and P36,000 as minimum for education support personnel.
Quetua said they will also call for an increase in salaries for Instructor I, with a Salary Grade 16, and equal pay for private school teachers.
The group will also urge the government to double the education budget to meet the United Nations’ requirement of 6 percent of the gross domestic product.
‘The October 3 walkout will serve both as a day of protest and a day of assertion: to honor the struggles of teachers by demanding decent pay, sufficient funding for classrooms and learning resources, and the dismantling of corruption at the highest levels of government,’ Quetua said.
‘World Teachers’ Day is not about token recognition or hollow praises from the same government that abandons us,’ Quetua noted. ‘It is about the collective voice of teachers demanding justice, dignity and real support for education.’ /cb