Private schools group airs concerns on pay, subsidy

While the proposed and planned salary increase is welcomed by thousands of public school teachers, their counterparts from the private sector are alarmed that it will further deplete their ranks.

“We don’t get enough subsidy [from the government] and public school teachers regularly enjoy automatic pay increase,” said Federation of Associations of Private Schools and Administrators (FAPSA) president Eleazardo Kasilag.

“Eventually, it will affect our already sordid state of education,” he added.

Kasilag lamented that the Duterte administration’s plan to double the monthly pay of public school teachers will further fuel the exodus of private school teachers.

“Doubling the pay of public school teachers is double whammy for us,” said Kasilag especially those private schools that are still adjusting with the implementation of the K to 12 Program under the Department of Education (DepEd).

“The feeling of administrators in the private schools is that the government is really killing us softly,” Kasilag added.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque last week announced the intention of the President to increase the salaries of teachers which might be “doubled” like the base pay of uniformed personnel.

He later clarified that teachers’ wages will not be doubled but will just increase.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, however, was quick to announce that salary increase for public school teachers might not be possible given that they are set to receive the third tranche of pay hike this January as stipulated by the Salary Standardization Law (SSL).