Congress News: CONTRACTUAL TEACHERS TO RECEIVE BENEFITS, INCENTIVES A lawmaker has filed a measure granting benefits and incentives to long time contractual public school teachers in the country. Rep. Gavini C. Pancho (2nd District, Bulacan) said House Bill 5034 recognizes the need to protect the rights of volunteer teachers against abuse and economic exploitation. According to Pancho, the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) has more than 13,000 part-time teachers with service contracts in 103 state universities and colleges during the academic year 2011-2012. “Due to the scarcity of available plantilla positions in the Department of Education (DepEd), many contractual teachers are hired by local governments at lower salaries to fill in the shortage of teachers in our SUCs,” Pancho said. Pancho said the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers provides that the remunerations of public school teachers shall compare favorably with those paid in other occupations requiring equivalent qualifications, training and abilities such as to insure teachers a reasonable standard of life for themselves and their families. “Service contracts do not establish an employer-employee relationship, making volunteer teachers denied of benefits such as PERA, Cost of Living Allowance (COLA), Representation and Transportation Allowance (RATA), mid-year bonus, productivity incentive, Christmas bonus and cash gifts,” Pancho said. Under the measure, all contractual teachers who have been serving for at least three years in any post-secondary institutions as state universities and colleges (SUCs), local universities and colleges (LUCs), whether nationally or locally funded, including those in technical and vocational schools and alternative learning system of the DepEd are entitled to receive benefits and incentives as provided by law. The contractual teachers shall be covered by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHILHEALTH), and the Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG, and full entitlement to all the benefits in accordance with the pertinent provisions provided by law. The measure also allows Christmas bonus of at least one half of what their regular counterparts received as mandated by law. An annual service incentive leave of five days with pay per year shall be provided to the volunteer teachers but unused leaves may not be converted to cash and are not cumulative or may not be carried over to the succeeding years. An instructional materials allowance amounting to P1,500 per month will be given to volunteer teachers of basic and higher education nationwide including those serving in the alternative learning system of the Department of Education. The concerned teachers are exempted from paying tuition and matriculation fees for his or her continuing education in any state college or university. (PRIB/jc)
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 03:45:06 +0000