- CHERYL G. CRUZ
Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte said Friday, Sept. 8, in Bacolod City that the memorandum on the straight 30-day break for teachers, as well as the interim guidelines on reduced administrative tasks, will be released soon.
Duterte, who was the keynote speaker at the “Teacher Ikaw Na: A Tribute to Education Champions” at the Panaad Park and Stadium in Bacolod, said that these two reforms will soon be enforced in all public schools nationwide.
“Teachers will have 30 straight calendar days of break this school year. We are set to release a memo prohibiting principals, division superintendents, and regional directors from requiring teachers to do work during the 30-day break,” she told the close to 3,500 DepEd Negros Occidental teaching and nonteaching personnel, who trooped to the Panaad Stadium for the “Gurovaganza” activity as part of the National Teachers’ Month celebration.
The teachers also applauded Duterte’s announcement that interim guidelines will soon be issued as well, reducing to 11 the 56 administrative tasks that teachers have been burdened with and complaining about for years now.
She said that teachers should be in class teaching children, and not doing the cooking or planting. “We will remove administrative tasks that are without legal bases or explanation.”
The Department of Education will also enter into a partnership with the Government Service Insurance System for the creation of an exclusive lane and a team that will cater to teachers.
A website will also be established to assist teachers, who have legal concerns, like loan contracts, Duterte said.
“There will also be an automated system, a digitized selection process in the hiring and promotion of teachers,” the vice president said, adding that this reform aims to do away with the “palakasan or padrino” system, and to ensure the quality of mentors hired or promoted.
Duterte thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Department of Budget and Management for approving the creation of the 5,000 non-teaching items nationwide, consisting of 3,500 admin officers to relieve teachers of administrative tasks, and 1,500 planning development officers.
Marcos had said, “We need to hire more non-teaching personnel who are qualified for the job…we can give teachers more time to prepare their lesson plans. Sometimes, our teachers also serve as the librarian, nurse, we even receive reports that some are also in charge of the canteen”.
She paid tribute to the teachers for sacrificing a lot just to ensure that children will have quality education, and thanked the DepEd Division of Negros Occidental for inviting her to the Teachers’ Day celebration.
Duterte also announced that senators Imee Marcos and Francis Tolentino, who were with her at the event, gifted each teacher-attendee P1,000 in cash, aside from the 25 kilos of rice and lipsticks coming from the presidential sister.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, meanwhile, assured the teachers of the provincial government’s continuing support for their welfare and that of the school children.
“In the face of significant challenges posed by recent years, which have disrupted the conventional methods of educating our children, your unwavering commitment has played a pivotal role in determining the extent to which education has been affected. I applaud the high standards you set for the children and fellow teachers,” Lacson stressed.
This activity of the NegOcc Schools Division, led by SDS Anthony Liobet, was also attended by DepEd Western Visayas regional director Ramir Uytico, Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Benitez, 6th District Rep. Mercedes Alvarez, Abang Lingkod Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano, about 18 mayors of the towns and cities of Negros Occidental, and other provincial and LGU officials./CGC
