Doubling teachers’ pay is a bridge too far for the nation today

ET’S get our perspectives straight.

Those who propose the doubling of the salaries of public school teachers should take a long look at the commitment by the government.

It is a good thing to look with solicitude at the welfare and well-being of our teachers’ community and to highlight the importance of the role they perform in nation-building and in educating and training our young population. They are vital to ensuring that the nation will continue to enjoy the all-important dividend from its young demographics.

But it is also neither wise nor prudent to throw money at the challenge as a matter of policy. It is more important to

It is in this light that the Congress and the public should treat the response of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and its secretary Benjamin Diokno to the salary bonanza.

They know whereof they speak. They are correct and responsible in sounding a note of caution.

First, doubling the salaries of teachers this year will require an additional P343.7 billion recurring cost for the national government.

Financing this, says the budget chief, “may require hiking the - has built over the past 18 months. Raising P343.7 billion is result in a credit rating downgrade for the Philippines, which would be a major national setback.

The salary issue should be framed in the light of the progressive improvement of the salaries of teachers in recent years, and their projected continued advance in coming years.

already raised this year when the third tranche of the Salary Standardizaton Law (SSL) was implemented.

Currently, an entry-level public school teacher (Teacher 1) P20,179. Annually, he/she enjoys bonuses and allowances of P74,358. This rounds up to monthy compensation packages of P26,375.

increase to P20,754 monthly and annually to P75,508, which would mean P671 more per month.

This, in our view, is a reasonable and prudent approach to the issue, and should be respected as such.

At the same time, proponents of the salary proposal and the public should weigh the issue in light of the fact that the Duterte government has other spending priorities that must be provided for. Among these are: the ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure development program, free college tuition, Marawi City’s rehabilitation, the cash transfer program for poor families, and AFP and police modernization.

All these programs, along with sustained education development, are vital to national governance and national development.

package by Congress is a crucial cog of the architecture of better governance, because it will raise much of the wherewithal for growth and development. Spending money is always easier to do than raising money. The government must always keep