Sen. Gatchalian urges gov't to help displaced teachers immediately

Now that the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2 has signed into law by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian urged the government on Sunday to provide immediate assistance to displaced teachers and non-teaching staff. 

Photo credit: senate.gov.ph

In the Bayanihan 2 act, it allocates P300 million to provide one-time cash assistance to teaching and non-teaching personnel in private and public elementary, secondary, and tertiary educational institutions who were displaced due to the current health crisis.

The act aims to help teachers who have lost their jobs and have not received any salaries. It covers part-time faculty, non-permanent teaching personnel and even part-time faculty in state universities and colleges (SUCs).

Senator Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts, and Culture, said 

Ngayon at ganap nang batas ang Bayanihan 2, dapat siguruhin nating agarang maipapaabot sa ating mga guro at mga kawaning nawalan ng trabaho ang ayuda mula sa pamahalaan. 

[Now that the Bayanihan 2 has been signed into law, let’s make sure that the government’s cash aid would immediately be distributed to our teachers and school personnel who lost their jobs.]

Matagal naghintay ang mga guro at kawaning nawalan ng trabaho kaya dapat nating siguruhing hindi magkakaroon ng aberya ang pamamahagi ng tulong pinansya para sa kanila,

 he added.

[These teachers and school personnel waited for a long time so it’s only fitting for us to ensure there would be no hitches in the distribution of this cash aid.]

As suggested by Gatchalian, Department of Education (DepEd) should ardently find displaced teachers, personnel, and students and coordinate with school associations by constructing a database for easy distribution of the aid.

He said this would help DepEd target candidates for its teaching and non-teaching positions, including para-teachers and tutors for distance learning.

Bayanihan 2 act also allocates P600 million for subsidies and allowances for qualified students in public and private schools who were affected by lockdown measures and are not part of government educational subsidies and voucher programs. The subsidies would be applied for unpaid tuition in SY 2019-2020 or the payment of tuition for SY 2020-2021 and would be released directly to schools.