THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers asked Vice President and Department of Education chief Sara Duterte-Carpio to prioritize the welfare of teachers.

“For one, she should push for significantly increasing teacher’s salaries to correct the distortion in the government salary scheme where teacher’s pay lag behind those of uniformed personnel and nurses,” ACT Philippines Spokesperson Vladimer Quetua said.

“This will relieve teachers of burdensome loans, improve their living conditions, lift their morale, and ultimately improve the quality of teaching and education,” he added.

Quetua said it is necessary to “decisively” confront the learning crisis and discuss the pay and welfare of teachers.

He said this is another “big challenge” for Duterte-Carpio.

“She should rectify this by diligently working to meet the requirements for safe school reopening and rolling out an evidence-based education recovery program,” Quetua added.