Filipino teachers migrating abroad amid low salaries
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines urged the agency to be more worried of the diaspora of teachers due to low pay in the country rather than migration of teachers from private to public schools.
“Parami nang parami sa mga kabaro namin ang nangingibang-bayan na o nag-aaplay ng trabaho sa Vietnam, Thailand, China, Europa at iba pa dahil napakahirap maging guro sa bayan natin. Hindi makabuhay ng pamilya ang P25,000 hanggang P30,000 buwanang sweldo ng 92% ng public school teachers. Kargo pa namin ang maraming gastusin sa pagtuturo at mga pangangailangan sa klasrum kaya lubog kami sa utang. Iyan ang katotohanan na dapat harapin ng ating gobyerno,” said Vladimer Quetua.
“In no time, we will be losing the best of our teachers both in the public and private sector if the government does not remedy our situation quickly. Parehong underpaid ang mga guro sa publiko at pribado. Leaving their own families and the Filipino students that they vowed to serve is a difficult decision that teachers make, but the government is leaving us with no other choice, especially with such stance of the DepEd being unsupportive of our call for salary upgrading,” expressed Quetua.
“Private schools, in fact, did not close down during the pandemic due to the exodus of teachers, but due to the transfer of many students from private to public schools. It is due to the government’s failure to cushion the economic impacts of the pandemic on the livelihood of Filipino families and to provide ample support to private schools. Using the old and worn-out private school card to deflect calls for salary upgrading is just a baseless and lousy excuse. Hindi naniniwala ang mga guro d’yan,” stressed Quetua.
“How can the DepEd and the DOLE say that the market standards for teachers’ salaries is that of the private sector’s when 75% of basic education teachers in the Philippines are hired by the government? The government, being the biggest employer of teachers is well in the position and has the responsibility to set the teachers’ salaries at decent levels. In fact, it should also subsidize the salaries of teachers in small private schools which truly have no capacity to pay decent salaries to their teachers’ if it sees these private schools as partners in education delivery,” explained Quetua.
“Inhustisya ang malayong pagitan sa sweldo ng mga guro sa publiko at pribado, pero hindi maitutuwid ang inhustisyang ito sa pagpako sa sahod ng mga gurong publiko sa kasalukuyang hindi nakabubuhay na antas. Ang hustisya ay nasa pagtataas ng sweldo ng lahat ng guro, gaya nang ibinigay sa mga pulis, sundalo at mga nars. Ang hustisya ay nasa pag-aangat ng kalagayan ng mga guro para hindi na sila mapilitang mangibang-bayan,” urged Quetua.
“Bago pa matapos ang implementasyon ng Salary Standardization Law V, panawagan namin na itama na ang inhustisyang ito sa pamamagitan ng pag-upgrade sa sweldo ng Teacher I tungong salary grade 15, katulad nang tinatanggap ng ating mga nars sa pampublikong ospital,” Quetua ended.
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