Pay salary of private school teachers, gov’t urged

MANILA, Philippines — With the widening gap between the salaries of public and private school teachers, a group of private Catholic education institutions is asking the government to subsidize the salaries of private school teachers.

Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) president Joel Tabora said private schools are facing a shortage of teachers as the government continues to push for increases in the basic salary of public school teachers.

He said the migration of teachers to the public sector is slowly killing the private education system in the country.

“If they want to provide salaries that go way (to the public school teachers), then that’s when I think the counterpart subsidies for private institutions should take effect,” he said in a press conference last Saturday.

“Because if they don’t, that high-handed state intervention in the current system would kill the private sector,” he added.

CEAP legal counsel Joseph Noel Estrada said the disparity of the basic pay between public and private school teachers could go above P10,000 per month as some private school teachers receive as low as P8,000.

The basic salary of an entry-level teacher is around P20,000 per month, he noted.

“What we’re saying is that the same compensation classification and ranking scheme that they adopt in the public schools should be given the same way to the private schools,” he added.

Government subsidy to private school teachers is doable, noting an existing law that provides government assistance to students and teachers in private education, according to Estrada.

“They perform the same public service function, which is education. They take part in the delivery of education. They deserve support,” he said.

“And this subsidy goes directly to the teachers, not to the schools,” he added.

Estrada noted that private education institutions could not match the salary provided by the government to public school teachers as it would mean significant increases on the tuition charged to students.

With more subsidy provided to teachers, he said private schools would be able to further improve the facilities and services provided to teachers.

CEAP also opposed the proposed restructuring of the tax incentives for education institutions in the corporate income tax reform bill pending before Congress.