THE P300-million financial assistance to private school teachers and personnel affected by the coronavirus pandemic is not enough to cover all of them including those who teach in basic education, according to a group of private school teachers.

“For the P300-million budget allocated to support private school employees, we know it is not enough and may even be divisive but beggars can’t be choosy,” said Eleazardo Kasilag, president of the Federation of Associations of Private School Administrators.

The amount was included in the P162-billion funding for the implementation of the Bayanihan To Recover As One Act, or the ‘Bayanihan 2.’

House Bill 6953 provides for P300 million in subsidies for personnel of private tertiary education institutions and part-time personnel of state universities and colleges.

“We cannot go to the streets and rally, we can only hope and pray that the government, which gives full pay to our counterpart as well as bonuses and allowances, shall find it in their hearts that being partners in doing complementary roles, will give us decent SAP enough for all of us,” Kasilag said.

“Remember, we are all taxpayers in the private schools as well as all our parents,” he stressed.

Kasilag said he is still hopeful that the FAPSA schools can motivate some of the 5 million students who have not yet enrolled to come back to school.

He explained “we are of the belief that the October 5 opening is something that may work for our private schools since the graduation shall cover the summer months and at 50 degrees celsius, it is very uncomfortable and no longer conducive for any student.”

“And parents just have to realize this: The longer off days could cause rest-fatigue. Now considering that private schools have better programs and we can rest assured of quality, we maintain that we can still increase our enrollment. I suggest that the tutorial center is an offshoot taken by those who decided to stop temporarily,” Kasilag added.