Insurance Cover For Poll Duties

MANILA, Philippines --- A bill filed in Congress seeks to mandate government-provided compulsory insurance coverage for teachers assigned to poll duties.

The House committee on suffrage has called for the swift approval of House Bill 3710 which seeks to insure members of the board of election inspectors (BEI) with, among others, a minimum P200,000 death benefit.

Authored by A Teacher Rep. Julieta R. Cortuna, HB 3710 also covers the hospitalization of BEI members who suffer from illnesses or injuries while on election duty.

Cortuna said the hospitalization coverage will be P1,500 per day provided that the total amount will not exceed P150,000.

Members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police who are assigned to act as BEI members will also be covered by the insurance coverage under the Government Service Insurance System.

The House committees on ways and means and on appropriations are expected to approve the bill and likewise endorse it for plenary approval.

“The members of the Board of Election Inspectors play a very big and significant role in insuring the public of a clean and honest election. History has shown us that there was numerous election-related violence committed against the life of these humble public servants,” said Cortuna.

She recalled the case of 42-year-old public school teacher Nellie Banaag who was “burned to death” by still unidentified suspects during the May 2007 elections.

Cortuna said Banaag was on her way to the town hall of Taysan, Batangas to deliver the ballot box assigned her when waylaid by the heavily armed suspects.

In the same year, four public school teachers were kidnapped in Maguindanao to stop them from reporting for election duty.

In Abra, two public school teachers were seriously wounded when attacked by unidentified suspects while on their way to submit the ballot boxes.

“In 1995 elections, Filomena Tatlonghari, a teacher in Batangas was shot and killed by men who snatched the ballot boxes she was protecting,” said Cortuna, who represents the education sector in the Lower House.

She lamented that many of the violent incidents on BEI members have remained unsolved.

“Most of these incidents remain unsolved and the families of these innocent BEIs are left in the dark without anything but memories of their loved ones – heroes in their own way,” Cortuna said.

She added: “These teachers should not just be part of statistics. We must promulgate laws that would protect their future.”

source: mb.com.ph

Teachers Frown On 'Smile' Directive

MANILA, Philippines — Public school teachers said the Department of Education (DepEd) should focus more on how to prepare for the opening of classes on June 4 by addressing shortages in resources instead of issuing a “nonsense” verbal directive such as asking them to “smile.”

Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Secretary General France Castro said the DepEd should pay more attention to resolve perennial problems in public schools such as lack of classrooms and insufficient number of teachers among others. “This is a nonsense directive or memo,” Castro quipped.

During the launch of DepEd’s Child Protection Policy Guidelines on Thursday, Education Secretary Armin Luistro was quoted as saying that teachers who will not flash their smile when they face their students on the opening day of classes on June 4 should be marked “no uniform.”

When interviewed, Luistro clarified that asking teachers to smile will not be issued as a formal DepEd Memorandum or Order. “However, we strongly urge them to smile especially on the first day of school to make their students feel welcome,” he explained.

The DepEd chief said a simple smile can have a very strong positive effect on pupils and students—especially for those in lower grades. “This would somehow lessen their nervousness as the opening day of classes would also mean they would be meeting new and unfamiliar faces and be separated from their parents,” Luistro said.

He said teachers and other school officials should make it a habit to “serve with a smile” to encourage positive learning. “Kapag nakasimangot ang mga guro ng estudyante, mai-stress na sila at kapag na-stressed sila, apektado na agad ang learning (When the teachers are frowning, the students will be stressed and when they’re stressed, learning would be greatly affected),” the DepEd chief said.

Castro, however, maintained that even if Luistro will not make it as an official memo to teachers, school officials, and principals, “nakangiti pa din kami kahit madami ang problema sa schools (we will still smile despite the recurring problems that we will be facing in school.)”

ACT vice chairman Benjie Valbuena, on the other hand, said teachers, especially those who will be teaching incoming Grade 1 and Grade 7 (first year high school) students, may not “afford to smile” because of the implementation of the new curriculum as part of DepEd’s K to 12 Basic Education Program. He said teachers may not have enough training for the implementation of the new curriculum. Based on data from DepEd, a total of 140,000 Grades 1 and 7 teachers will undergo training this May.

Meanwhile, the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) did not take Luistro’s “smile” comment very seriously. “Kahit naman di sabihin yan through memo, nature naman ng mga teachers na palaging naka-smile sa mga estudyante nila, (Even if this will not be issued through a memo, it is the nature of teachers to always smile to their students),” TDC national chairperson Benjo Basas said.

Basas, however, noted that DepEd should work harder on how to make the teachers’ smile “consistent.” “Kahit naman nakangiti kami sa first day ng pasukan kung puro problema naman sa mga kakulangan sa paaralan, mahihirapan kaming panatilihin ang ngiti na yan, (Even if we smile on the first day of classes but if problems continue to persist, we will have difficulty in maintaining that smile),” Basas added.

While both teachers’ groups see the wisdom behind Luistro’s comment on “smiling,” TDC and ACT said that DepEd should work more on addressing the needs of the public school system—particularly the lack of teachers. Basas said while gaps in resources are being filled, it should be done “holistically.”

“We see the efforts of DepEd in addressing the shortages but the main priority should be the lack of teachers because even if there are enough textbooks and seats, if the number of teachers remains insufficient, the quality of basic education would still suffer,” he added.

This coming school year, Luistro announced that two of the major problems in public schools—lack of textbooks and seats—will be addressed. However, problems in classroom and teacher shortage as well as lack of toilets would still be prevalent. In 2011, DepEd said classroom shortage stood at 68, 000 but will be greatly reduced this year with the construction of some 30, 000 classrooms under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) program as well as from their regular funding.

Meanwhile, toilet shortage in the public schools stands at 135,847 but it will be reduced to 98,196 once the construction of sanitation facilities—a total of 12,651 in 2011 and 25,000 this year—is completed. Currently, the number of toilets in public elementary and high schools stands at 353,763 as of DepEd inventory.

When it comes to teacher shortage, DepEd said that 99,628 teachers are still lacking but will be trimmed down to 11, 648 after a total of 25, 450 have been hired in 2010 and 2011 on top of 13, 000 who have already been hired in 2012 while local government units have also hired a total of 49, 530.

source: mb.com.ph