No chalk? ACT decries allowance anomaly

ANGELES CITY, Philippines – Public schools nationwide have been holding classes for two weeks now, but where’s the chalk for the blackboard?

“It has come to our attention that the chalk allowance is not being fully paid or is not paid at all in some school

divisions in the country,” Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio said yesterday.

Tinio cited Special Provision No. 7 of the Department of Education (DepEd) budget in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for the Fiscal Year 2011 which mandates that “cash allowance to teachers for the purchase of chalk, erasers, forms and other classroom supplies and materials shall be paid only to classroom teachers at P700 per teacher per school year.”

Tinio cited complaints from some teachers in Antipolo City that they have been paid only P300 “since time immemorial” for chalk allowances.

He said that in Samar, teachers reported they have never received any chalk allowance while in Cebu, teachers claimed their chalk allowances are shaved for contributions for sports activities.

“The irksome scenario has opted the ACT to file House Bill 4134, known as ‘Teaching Supplies Allowance Act of 2011,’ which seeks to increase the annual allowance for classroom supplies from P700 to P2,000 or P9.85 per day,” Tinio said.

He said the bill would “mitigate the onerous financial burden of our public school teachers in the country and to promote and improve the economic status of teachers and assist them in providing quality education to their students.”

“We call on the DepEd to thoroughly monitor the release of present and previous chalk allowances,” he said.

“The ACT is committed to supporting teachers in ensuring that they receive what is due them,” he said.

The DepEd, for its part, said it will look into the reported non-issuance or reduced issuance of the P700 chalk allowance in certain public schools.

Francis Varela, DepEd Undersecretary for Finance and Administration, said while they were unaware of such cases since the issuance of chalk allowance is being done by regional offices.

Varela aired the possibility that there may have been delays in the release of the funds but if the delays have reached a period of one year or more, then the concerned DepEd offices should explain this. -–Ding Cervantes (The Philippine Star) with Rainier Allan Ronda