Filipino teachers lowest paid in Asia

FILIPINO professors in state universities and colleges are the lowest paid in Asia, a lawmaker said Wednesday as the country marked World Teachers’ Day.

Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan said a 2009 UNESCO study showed collegiate-level teachers in the Philippines had an annual salary of $9,202 compared with those of their counterparts in Malaysia ($11,438), Japan ($26,256) and Korea ($30,405).

“Not only is it a dishonor, it is also an injustice for our teachers to teach amid conditions of scarcity and slave-like compensation,” said Ilagan who taught at the Ateneo De Davao University for four decades.

“This is something that President Aquino should have learned in his years of study in Ateneo [De Manila University].”

Ilagan wanted President Benigno Aquino III to “best honor teachers” by reversing the budget cuts on education and addressing the shortages in classrooms, teaching positions and textbooks.

The proposed budget of 110 state universities and colleges was P45 billion but the Palace approved only P21.8 billion, Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino said.

The budget cuts amounted to some P23 billion, Palatino said. He said some P1.8 billion in capital outlay that was received by the schools in the previous administration was taken away by the Aquino administration.

ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio said the World Teachers’ Day celebration turned into protest-rallies nationwide.

Tinio was in Cebu with some 300 teachers and 500 education students who demanded pay hikes and an increase in chalk allowances to P2,000 from P700 a year.

The Palace only approved P1,000 a year per teacher in chalk allowances for next year.

The protest started at the Cebu Normal University and moved to the Fuente Osmeña Circle.

“Hundreds of public school teachers in Metro Manila, Davao City, Masbate City, Negros City, Baguio City, Iloilo City, Butuan City, Central Luzon, Bohol, and Cagayan de Oro City today [Wednesday] held simultaneous protest actions to urge the Aquino administration to [give priority to] education by allocating a higher, sufficient budget,” Tinio said. –Christine F. Herrera with Gigi Muñoz David, Manila Standard Today