THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers called on the Department of Education to give additional compensation or at least service credits to teachers who will handle remedial classes for students who did not pass some of their subjects.

The group issued the call following the issuance by the Department of Education of the implementing guidelines on the holding of remedial classes.

The DepEd order aims to assist in addressing the “learning gaps brought primarily by the abrupt pedagogical shift due to the pandemic.”

“Our teachers are all for addressing the learning crisis and raising education quality, but this noble cause should not be used as a ticket to violate the labor rights of our teachers.,” Raymond Basilio, the group’s secretary general, said.

“Essentially, this is tantamount to punishing our teachers and making them solely accountable for the learning gaps when so many factors are contributory to the education crisis, most of which fall under the government’s responsibility. The least the government can do is to justly compensate teachers who are going the extra mile to help our learners,” he added.

Basilio urged DepEd to understand that “depriving teachers of the much-needed rest between school years takes a heavy toll not only on their health and capacities but to the over-all delivery of quality education as well.”

“With this situation, it cannot be helped that some teachers may just opt to pass students so as to avoid teaching in uncompensated enrichment or remedial classes, thus rendering the measure essentially useless. If only the DepEd is willing to take its share of the responsibility, we can have a better chance at battling the learning crisis,” he said.