Financial literacy: The answer to public school teacher debt woes?

It is evident that most public school teachers all over the country have debt in different lending institutions. Data from the Department of Education (DepEd) revealed that teachers have incurred P178 billion worth of loans.

As a remedy, the education Secretary Leonor Briones instigated financial literacy program, believing that this will relief the increasing teacher debt woes.

In her keynote address, Briones reiterated the importance of financial literacy. “This is what financial literacy is all about. It’s finding solutions to challenges that we face. It’s finding solutions to reaching the goals that you want to reach, what you want to be, and what you want to do with the rest of your lives,” she said.

As a response to the call, school administrators had incorporated financial literacy as one of their topic in their inservice training (INSET) program for teachers and nonteaching personnel to further advance the development of financial education initiatives.

Last October 24, 2018, the North Quezon District of Baguio City division invited some Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) personnel as INSET resource speakers on financial literacy.

The resource speakers emphasize that financial literacy is the education and understanding of various financial areas including topics related to managing personal finance, money and investing.

They highlighted that financial literate person has the ability to manage personal finance matters in an efficient manner, and have the knowledge of making appropriate decisions such as investing, paying bills, budgeting and tax planning.

They said that lack of financial literacy may lead to making poor financial choices that can have negative consequences on the financial well-being of an individual. In their discussion, some strategies and rule in managing money was also introduced to the teachers.

As a participant in the INSET, I think, managing money is a personal skill that benefits you throughout your life. It requires a fundamental understanding of personal credit and a willingness to embrace personal responsibility. With money coming in and going out, with due dates, finance charges and fees, we need to accept the fact that sometimes we have to sacrifice immediate demands and desires for long-term gain.

On the other hand, teachers nationwide are clamoring that financial literacy is not the answer to teachers’ financial woes. As seen on national television, significant salary increase is the demand of everyone. Instead, urging Secretary Briones to support the PhP10, 000.00 across-theboard salary increase so that teachers can meet the intensifying standard of living.

In this way, teachers will not be suppressed by their debit and will not be enticed by lending institutions, rather they will have peace of mind as they carry their own battle in molding the youth. but also the sources of our drinking water.

I really like this bit of information from the Arbor Day Foundation that suggest how “drinking a single cup of shade coffee instead of sun coffee saves about 2.3 square feet (0.21 square meters) of the rainforest.” If you have to drink coffee, beware, do not gulp down the trees and biodiversity too.

Now here is a challenge. A reader in the USA says that Cordillera coffee (Arabica) is quality coffee. Many foreign buyers would gladly purchase the product, he said. The problem is “one of scale. How many tons can you sustain and make available on a monthly and yearly schedule?”

The Atokape Cooperative of Atok, Benguet, has been encountering that challenge for quite long.

The real challenge remains. We need to keep producing quality coffee free from Ochratoxins, to sustain our needs, before we export.