CONTINUOUS DELIVERY OF SERVICES

NOEMI P. JONES

The Department of Education (DepEd), as prescribed by Republic Act No. 7797, has set a school calendar with a minimum of 200 and a maximum of 220 class days every year.

Given inevitable class suspensions, the Department has to guarantee the continuous delivery of quality basic education.

To balance between achieving its directive and ensuring the welfare of both learners and personnel, DepEd authorizes flexibility in the mode of making up for cancelled classes including modularized instruction and other mechanisms that are approved by the school heads and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).

Teachers are not exempt from the eight-hour workday in the government, as resolved in Civil Service Commission (CSC) Resolution No. 080096 issued in 2008. Teachers are required to render a maximum of six hours of actual classroom teaching per day within the school premises.

Pursuant to the CSC resolution, DepEd reiterates the provisions stated in DM No. 291, s. 2008 and DO No. 16, s. 2009, that teachers who choose to render the remaining two hours of work outside the school premises must not be subjected to salary deductions, and that they should not be required to submit means of verification (MOVs) as proof of services rendered outside the school premises. It will also direct key offices to monitor the strict and uniform execution of this policy.

As part of its ongoing review of policies on teachers’workload, DepEd is conducting a study of the type and magnitude of ancillary tasks they perform. An initial solution is the creation of non-teaching positions in schools to be requested from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

DepEd’s series of reviews has likewise resulted in the reduction and standardization of school forms, updating and reduction of data needed, and maximized utilization of available technology and information system. It will also collaborate with teachers and process owners to consider data sharing.

Teachers are entitled to vacation service credits, which serve as their sick and vacation leaves, as provided for in Section 9 of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Memorandum Circular (MC) 41, s.1998. Also unique to public school teachers is the Proportional Vacation Pay (PVP), which they earn based on the computation to be provided by DepEd every school year.

Other leave benefits of teachers, such as Study Leave and Indefinite Sick Leave are covered by Sections 24 and 25 of Republic Act 4670, or the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers.

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The author is Teacher III at Northville 16 Elementary School