SEVERAL senators have proposed a huge pay raise for public school teachers. This is long overdue, actually, This increase could finally make it through 18th Congress, what with the growing bipartisan support for it. Senate Bill No. 19, authored by Ilonggo Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, for example, seeks to set the entry-level salary of public school teachers to not less than P30,000 a month, from the current P20,754 monthly salary of Teacher 1.
Indeed, we should provide teachers with the right incentives to encourage them to remain in the noblest profession of educating and molding our youth to become productive citizens of this country. This proposed salary increase will invigorate our teachers as they help build the nation, one student, one classroom at a time.
While the education sector receives the largest share in the national budget, the salary of our teachers remains to be lower compared to the salaries received by other professionals. The proposed measure is geared towards improving the performance of our educators, thereby resulting to a better quality of education, and ultimately, a better Philippines.
The proposed measure also seeks to adjust the minimum basic salary received by entry level teachers in state universities and colleges to P31,000. The salaries of all other teaching personnel occupying higher positions will also be adjusted.
With the bill getting bipartisan support in the Senate, there is a chance that the much-awaited and long-sought increase will finally be given to the country’s hardworking teachers and teaching personnel. If we truly care about our country and its people, it would serve us well to invest in them. Drilon is right. Devoting resources for their benefit means investing in our future.
