DepEd fast-tracks kinder teachers' pay

The Department of Education (DepEd) Saturday vowed to fast-track the processing of the payment of teachers’ salaries after an advocacy group revealed that hundreds of kindergarten teachers have not been paid since the school year opened.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said in a statement that DepEd is hoping to receive June to October payments next month. “We wish to assure our kindergarten teachers that we are fast-tracking the processing of the payment of their salaries,” he said.

Luistro said that while the department is completing enrollment data from the field needed for the release of funds, “we received news from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) that we will be able to process downloading of funds based on initial projections.”

He asked the help of the kindergarten volunteer teachers and the teacher organizations for the immediate submission of the actual enrollment data.

The Teachers' Dignity Coalition (TDC), a 30,000-strong group, on Friday said almost all the teachers under the DepEd’s Universal Kindergarten Program (UKP) have not been paid since June. “Still, some teachers who served in the summer kinder program have yet to receive their compensation,” said TDC spokesperson Emmalyn Policarpio.

Policarpio, a teacher in Valenzuela City, said that this is how the DepEd implements Enhanced K to 12 Basic Education Program of the Aquino administration. “The honorarium amounting to R3,000 is always delayed,” she said.

The UKP is the first phase of the implementation of the K to 12 program which is expected to be rolled out to Grade 1 and First Year high school students by next school year. This year, DepEd accepted almost two million kindergarten students in more than 50,000 public schools despite the perennial shortages in classrooms, teachers, school facilities and textbooks.

By INA HERNANDO-MALIPOT
Manila Bulletin