Reassigned to other schools, levels: Teachers rile vs DepEd Talisay

CEBU, Philippines – Some public high school teachers in Talisay City cried foul against the Department of Education-Talisay City Schools Division after they were reassigned to other schools while others were designated to teach lower levels.

In a grievance conference yesterday, DepEd-7 officials media-ted between the heads of the DepEd-Talisay City Schools Division and the affected teachers. However the afternoon conference, which ran for over five hours, was not open to the press.

One of the affected teachers, Joselito Hermosa said he was not satisfied with the outcome of the meeting.

Hermosa has been working at the Tabunok National High School for 21 years now, teaching fourth year high school students as the principal instructor in Mathematics. Now, he was lowered to the primary level at the Tabunok Central Elementary School handling Grades 4 to 6.

Hermosa said he was not alone in what he calls an “illegal transfer” as 65 other public school teachers from different schools in Talisay City were also transferred to other schools while others were also reassigned to teach elementary levels like him.

Of the 66 teachers, however, only 13 of them showed objection to the reassignment which was implemented last July 2015.

“Dili man nako kabisado ang elementary program. Wala ko naanad sa elementary. Diretso lang sila og hatag sa notice for transfer or reassignment order,” Hermosa said.

He claimed he was never consulted with the plan to reassign him to another school, much more that he will be teaching a lower level.

Hermosa said some of the involved teachers filed a complaint before the Civil Service Commission-7 but the case did not prosper due to technical deficiency.

The teachers, assisted by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Central Visayas, sought the intervention of DepEd-7 to clarify their present status and hopefully for them to be returned to their previous assignment. Thus, they lodged a petition before the regional agency summoning the officials of Talisay City Schools Division to appear.

Talisay City Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Leah Noveras defended the move saying that the reassignment was made to sustain and balance the schooling system in the division.

“Kaning among gitrabaho sa Talisay mao ang pag-align sa mga personnel sa ilang plantilla. This effort started in 2012. Wala lang ni siya napahiluna on that year tungod kay there were several concerns of Talisay before,” she said.

“Pag-replace nako sa division, this was one of my marching orders nga ipahiluna ni siya tungod kay naa’y excess ang secondary ug naa’y shortage ang elementary. So the best thing to do is to realign the excess of teachers to teach in schools with shortage,” she explained.

Noveras claimed that this policy, wherein high school teachers can teach elementary levels, is allowable under the regulations of the Civil Service Commission.

She also stressed that the teachers underwent several consultations for seven months that started on December 2014 together with their school principals and supervisors.

“For us, this is the best solution that we can get and, in fact, I was thinking nga okay na mi tungod kay naglamano mi, not knowing nga sa ilang kasing-kasing aduna pa diay sila’y mga aligotgot. Ang problema lang nga during the conference wala nila gi-open,” she added.

After the grievance meeting, Fiel Almendra, acting assistant regional director of DepEd-7, said he will review the minutes of the deliberation and study the matter. He said as part of resolving the matter, the superintendent will have to check the data before June whether enrolment increased in schools where the teachers were previously assigned.

“Mao na ang nasabotan. If daghan ang mo-enrol then ibalik sila sa previous nila nga school,” he said.  — /BRP (FREEMAN)