"My take-home pay can no longer take me home" is the often repeated lamentation of teachers who always become the burden bearers of this chronic and shaky outlook of Philippine economy. The report on the deepening crisis looming the country is not a new phenomenon to the teachers.
Every year, teachers hear the fiscal constraints as a politically expedient reason of the government on skirting this perennial problem of budgetary crisis. It is always the case that the 'burden sharing' on the inevitable consequence of this socio economic crisis becomes the musical theme of the government whereby the poor teachers and the marginalized sectors suffer the brunt of this sorry state of a sick economy.lt is also a sad thing to note that despite this gloomy picture, the government still prioritizes its major resource allocation to debt servicing rather than education and other social services.
Even prior to the pronouncement of country's so-called fiscal crisis, teachers already take the toll of experiencing the net effects of budgetary deficits not only on their wage levels but also in sharing the growing burden of budget cuts in the delivery of basic social services such as extended classroom size, longer teaching hours, teachers shortage, shouldering the cost in water, electricity, security guards, sanitation and instructional materials, unpaid increments, and other cost saving measures.
They also face pressures from the government and their employers who want to modify or alter change in the nature of their responsibilities and statutory qualifications, market-driven practice of hiring "contractual teachers"for lower pay, fizzing their minimum terms and conditions of employment such as wages,allowances, and benefits and even imposing on the adjustments to the serious socio economic crisis derived from a market-driven economy. In spite the various international agreements signed by the Philippine government,as enshrined in the UNESCO/ILO Recommendations concerning the Status of Teachers, adopted in Paris, France on.
October 5,1966, as well as the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (RA 4670) and other national legislations, these binding instruments laid down the criteria for just wages of teachers such as:
Reflect the importance to society of the teaching function and hence the importance of teachers as well as the responsibilities of all kinds which fell upon her from the time of their entry into the service;
Compare favorably with salaries paid in other occupations requiring similar or equivalent qualifications;
Provide the teachers with the means to ensure a reasonable standard of living for themselves and their
families as well as to invest in further education or in the pursuit of cultural activities, thus enhancing their professional qualifications; and
Take account of the fact that certain posts require higher qualifications and experiences and carry greater responsibilities.
Unfortunately, these instruments remain to be ignored and just in paper.Teachers'incomes and status continue to be in deplorable situation. Their salaries and conditions of work are not accorded with social protection by their respective employers, and worse, by our government who always curb the labor costs in compliance to debt payments and servicing to multilateral financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and many more. The long time-zero-wage increase policy of the government has implications in increasing the productivity and purchasing capacity of the teachers who are also major consumers in our society.
Recognizing this difficult situation of teachers, potential recruits to the teaching profession backtrack from entering the profession and decide to look for other attractive employment.Those who are already in the service take early retirement. Many teachers take the risk of going abroad causing "brain drain"that aggravated the teachers shortage because the country is losing the best and qualified young teachers.Teachers are also experiencing 'burn-out" syndrome', low self-esteem, demoralization, and even precariousness because they no longer feel the worth attached by the community to their work.
Just imagine how one may live decently with a take-home pay of five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) or three thousand pesos by come? The computed teacher's daily wage, including the Personnel Economic Relief Assistance (PERA) amounts to three hundred sixty-four and sixty-three centavos (P364.63 or US$6.46 per day) which has a deficit of P109.17 as of 2004 Daily Cost of Living Allowance estimates.
A teacher cannot live a decent life if her take-home pay is not able to provide his/her family the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter? The recent unabated increase of world oil prices has resulted to an unprecedented rise of prices of basic commodities, transport fare, house rentals, electric, and many more. Like the situation of the workers, the teachers' purchasing power has eroded tremendously, making them live in a very dehumanizing kind of life. Though the teachers have shown their caring, competence and social commitment to the standards of public service, a supportive community and an environment of decent work is a critical factor in making the profession intellectually, socially and financially appealing to the current workforce of teachers and the future teachers. The society needs the teachers to ensure quality teaching and learning for all.
