ACT Teachers Partylist filed today their candidacy papers as they seek re-election in the partylist elections next year in their bid to continue their fight for the rights and welfare of Filipino teachers.
Without the proper devices, teachers run the risk of being interrupted when her device would die out on her in the middle of a discussion, or the students might miss important points because of choppy lines, delayed audio, garbled sounds, and other connectivity issues.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said their colleagues have not had the chance to breathe since classes ended less than a month ago.
“Our teachers and our learners alike suffered the effects of state abandonment even as we ourselves are grappling with the raging pandemic and economic crisis. How long will the DepEd and the Duterte regime turn a blind eye to the needs of the education sector?”
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers called on President Duterte to urgently address “the serious welfare issues of public school teachers that erode their capacities, health, and morale, and put education continuity in jeopardy.”
“The arrest came days after the DILG release a memorandum tagging ACT and other progressive groups in the public sector as a communist terrorist groups.”
With the pandemic still raging on, the crisis in the Philippine educational system has been further exposed. Instead of addressing the concerns of the education sector, the Duterte administration has chosen to neglect it even more by not providing enough budget for distance learning.
The learning modalities recommended by the education department are not suitable to students with special needs.
Public school teachers spend for their basic protection such as alcohol, face masks, face shields and gloves. The Department of Education admitted that there is no budget allocated for the hospitalization of teachers who will be infected by the virus.
“This is an injudicious handling of the people’s coffers, seeing as how the state’s insufficient funding will further deprive millions their constitutionally granted right to accessible and quality education, while education workers will be subjected to unsafe working conditions and forced to again make up for shortages.”
The groups said that such decision is an “affirmation that the agency is indeed unprepared for this school year’s blended learning.”