THE GOVERNMENT has yet to implement the proposal of the Department of Education to grant P450 and P250 internet allowance to teachers and students, respectively, but a teachers’ group already wants the amount increased.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones  earlier said that the agency asked the Department of Budget and Management to release P4 billion for this purpose.

The Internet allowance will be for 2021.

“It’s been over a month since classes started, with teachers and learners shouldering the costs of blended learning even as they themselves are reeling from the effects of the pandemic. Not only is the basic granting of internet allowance overdue, but the planned amount will not suffice to cover connectivity expenses,” the group said.

“Hence, we call on the government to raise it to a monthly P1,500 for teachers and for students, allowing us to afford the minimum for an internet plan—instead of just load credits for mobile data—that is speedy and stable enough for online classes,” Raymond Basilio, ACT secretary general, said.

The group said that distance learning requires stable internet connectivity.

“Teachers practically need internet connectivity for eight hours or more each day as all duties from lesson preps, conduct of classes, meetings, webinars, reporting to duty, submission of reports, among others now happen online. As such, many of our teachers have had to install home WiFis or upgrade old plans in order to keep up with the demands of distance learning, which added to the mounting teaching-related expenses that continue to be sourced from their own pockets. Where’s the government’s share in all these?” Basilio asked.

The group had asked the government to augment DepEd’s funds to allow the agency to sufficiently prepare for the shift to distance learning. It lamented that the proposed 2021 budget for DepEd is too small to cover the huge expenses of the new modes of education delivery.

“It is first and foremost the state’s responsibility to ensure education continuity and the most concrete realization of that mandate is through the ample allocation of the people’s money for such. We demand that the Duterte regime fulfill its constitutional duties to the people by upholding our basic right to safe, accessible, and quality education,” Basilio said.