Teachers’ group willing to work with VP Sara for DepEd reforms
TEACHERS‘ group said they are willing to “engage” the incoming Department of Education (DepEd) Vice President-elect Sara Duterte, who is set for inauguration as the country’s Vice President today, June 19.
“We hope to share with her the concrete experiences and problems faced by our educators. Hence, we look forward to the opportunity of presenting our 13-Point Teachers’ Dignity Agenda,” Benjo Basas, national chairperson of Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC).
Basas said the agenda is focused both on the welfare of teachers and the quality of learning for children that “would require both executive and legislative actions more aggressive than what the country has seen for decades.”
TDC’s list includes a better compensation package for teachers and educators both for public and private institutions, implementation of the 1966 vintage Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, compensation for those affected by COVID-19, free post-graduate education, provision of free laptop computers and Internet services, and the creation of a separate insurance system and hospital for teachers, among other benefits.
“We have discussed these advocacies on several occasions with our education leaders and legislators. Many of them proposed some of these measures in legislature, but we always failed. It is long overdue,” Basas added.
In classroom learning, the TDC proposes strategies such as reducing class size, providing learning materials, and providing facilities and sufficient funding for the safe return to normal school operations.
“We assume that the desire for the resumption of face-to-face classes has been discussed in the transition, and we expect both the outgoing and incoming DepEd management agreed to provide mechanisms for safe return to schools,” Basas continued.
Apart from the welfare of teachers and learners, the TDC also bats for “a change in curriculum that, while still catering to the manpower requirements for economic growth, espouses true national development.”
“We want an education system that inculcates patriotism in the hearts of Filipinos and promotes peace and respect for human rights. A curriculum that will produce Filipinos who are proud of their history, culture, and traditional values,” Basas, himself a history teacher and human rights advocate, exclaimed.
The TDC hopes that incoming Secretary Vice President-elect Duterte will respond positively to their request for a meeting before she assumes the office.
“We will send our formal request to her office as soon as she takes her oath,” Basas ended.
