Mindanaotoday.com | CHED: Low pay keeps teaching posts vacant
By: URIEL QUILINGUING
Although quality of education in the Philippines is at par–if not better–compared with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), teachers and other professionals are not paid much as working abroad, an official of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) said Friday, August 18.
CHEd-10 Regional Director Freddie Bernal said this in a forum on the 56th ASEAN Anniversary at the Limketkai Center’s Rotonda in Cagayan de Oro City, when asked why many teachers and other licensed professionals would opt to work in other countries.
Aside from high salaries, educators and other professionals get career advancement opportunities from host countries, Bernal said.
A high-paying job abroad remains a dream to be realized among professionals even after the Salary Standardization Law or Republic Act No. 11466 was enacted in 2019.
For instance, the monthly salary of newly-hired teacher in the Department of Education went up to P27,000 this year from P20,754 in 2019. An Instructor I in a state college or university, under CHEd, would receive a monthly salary of P29,165 (Salary Grade 12).
As provided for under R.A. 11466, a Teacher I regular position gets a Salary Grade 11 which became P22,316 after the first trance in 2020.
The CHEd-10 official said that although teacher’s pay and career development remain top concerns and the country is trying to recover from being the region’s “educational hub” in the past.
“We’re the only country that gives free college education in state universities and colleges among ASEAN countries,” Bernal said, aside from subsidies in reference to Republic Act No. 10931 of 2017 otherwise known as the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act.
This year’s General Appropriations Act (GAA) includes P138.77 billion for higher education programs; P107.04 billion for State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and P31.73 for CHEd. Part of the budget will fund the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Program (UAQTE) with P45.80 billion.
Other educational programs are likewise allotted with necessary funding for 2023 such as the Student Financial Assistance Programs (P1.52 billion) which aim to provide scholarships and grant-in-aid programs to 21,053 student beneficiaries.
An earlier Department of Budget and Management press statement said that a total of P500 million was likewise allocated for Medical Scholarship and Return Service Program to assist deserving medical students to pursue education and training, in exchange for services rendered in public health offices or hospitals. Some P167 million will subsidize the tuition fees of medical students in SUCs.
Public primary and secondary schools are free of tuition. The 1935 Constitution provided for universal primary education, made free under the 1973 Constitution, while the 1987 Constitution extended free education to the secondary level.
Worldwide, 22 countries pay for tertiary education of their citizens, but none from ASEAN and the rest of Asia.
For this year, a document from the DBM that was posted online show that the DepEd has 7,034 unfilled permanent positions out of the 1,004,992 approved and funded plantilla items. CHEd has 140 vacancies while the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) needs to hire 938 more personnel.
SUCs in Northern Mindanao have a combined 623 unfilled permanent items: Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, 232; Bukidnon State University (Malaybalay), 132; Northwestern Mindanao State College Of Science and Technology in Claveria, Misamis Oriental, 104; Central Mindanao University in Bukidnon, 87; University of Science and Technology in Southern Philippines in Cagayan de Oro, 30; Northern Bukidnon State College in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon, 15; Camiguin Polytechnic State College in Camiguin, 12; and USTSP Claveria Campus, Misamis Oriental, 11.
Bernal said licensed teachers and other professionals from ASEAN-members can move freely and work within the region to exercise their professions because of the Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) that started 18 years ago.
Licensed engineers, nurses, architects, medical doctors, dentists, accountants, and tourism professionals from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, may seek jobs and work in any of these ASEAN-member countries.