ANGELES CITY– Public schools nationwide are bursting at the seams with overpopulation, but where’s the chalk for the blackboards?
“It has come to our attention that this so-called 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) partylist 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 chalks, erasers, forms and other classroom supplies and materials shall be paid only to classroom teachers at P700 per teacher per school year.”
“The same provision is provided under last year’s GAA,” he said.
Tinio cited complaints from some teachers from Antipolo City who said they were paid only P300 “since time immemorial” for chalk allowances. He noted that in the Division of Samar, teachers reported they have never received any chalk allowance at all, while in Cebu, the teachers claimed their chalk allowances are shaved as contributions for the 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 Department of Education to thoroughly monitor the release of present and previous chalk allowances,” he said, adding “we also call on teachers to monitor the payment of their chalk allowance and report any irregularities to ACT party-list.”
“The ACT is committed to supporting teachers in ensuring that they receive what is their due,” he stressed.
