ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro reiterated the need to raise the pay of public school teachers, saying they have been left behind by workers in other professions.

“Our teachers are among lowest paid compared to teachers of other southeast Asian countries,” Castro said.

She added that teachers have been at the frontline in delivering education despite the lack of support from the government, using money from their own pockets to provide learning materials, ensuring they have internet connection for the blended learning modalities, and reporting for work despite non-payment of overtime work.

“For the longest time, the government has been denying public school teachers salary increases by pitting their salaries against teachers in the private sector, which is wrong because most private school teachers are paid at very low rates, even near-starvation salaries. Salaries of public school teachers should set the standard for salaries in the private school, not the other way around,” Castro said.

The party-list filed House Bill 203, An Act Upgrading the Salary Levels of Public School Teachers to Salary Grade 15 and Teaching Personnel in Higher Education to Salary Grade 16, and Increasing the Salaries of Non-Teaching Personnel to P16,000.

Castro also filed House Bill 562, An Act Increasing the Minimum Salaries of Private School Teachers to P30,000 per Month.

“These are part of our priority measures that reflect the demands of our teachers in both the public and private sector. We urge the House leadership to pass these bills into law,” she said.

“If the government wants quality teachers to deliver quality education, it should also give our teachers quality salaries that will adequately compensate them for the work and service they provide and allow them to live decent lives away from loans,” the lawmaker added.