Cash aid for teachers in Cebu City public schools hits snag

APPROVAL of a proposed ordinance seeking to provide public school teachers in Cebu City with  an annual cash assistance of P10,000 each was deferred for a week after questions were raised on whether teachers of state universities would be covered.

During the final deliberation of the proposed ordinance of Councilor Lea Japson last Wednesday,  Councilor Sisinio Andales asked whether teachers from Cebu Technological University (CTU) and Abellana National School would  be included in the grant.

Under her proposed ordinance, Japson said state schools would be covered.

But Councilor Alvin Dizon, who heads the committee on education, clarified that CTU, Cebu Normal University (CNU) and University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu should not be included in the ordinance since these institutions are regulated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and not by the Department of Education (DepEd).

Under Section 3 of Japson’s ordinance though, public school teachers are defined by the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers as “all persons engaged in classroom teaching, in any level of instruction, on full-time basis, including guidance counsellors, school librarians, industrial arts or vocational instructors and all other persons performing supervisory and/or administrative functions in all schools, colleges and universities operated by the government.”

The proposed ordinance seeks to allocate P50.15 million a year, to be taken from the general fund, for the P10,000 cash assistance to a total of  5,015 public school teachers in Cebu City.

Japson was referring to teachers, school administrators, librarians and guidance counsellors of elementary, secondary and special education public schools in the city.

Under the proposed ordinance, qualified beneficiaries should have rendered at least one year of service in their schools regardless of whether they are residents of Cebu City or not.

Those who have served for less than one year will receive a pro-rated amount based on the date they started.

The proposed ordinance also states that the assistance would be released every December and the annual budget for the cash assistance would be included in the general fund of the city’s annual budget every year.

Based on a list submitted by the DepEd, there are 2,287 teachers, 91 school administrators and 22 special education (sped) teachers in elementary schools in the city.

There are 2,023 teachers, 34 school administrators, and 5 SPED teachers in secondary schools as well as 13 librarians or guidance counselors in city schools.