A TEACHERS’ group urged the Department of Education to identify the teachers who tested positive for Covid19 and provide them financial and medical assistance.

“Instead of tasking field officials to collect details of members of teachers’ organizations, the DepEd would do better to conduct the more relevant survey of teachers infected with the dreaded Covid19 in view of providing them much needed assistance,” Benjo Basas, national chairperson of Teachers’ Dignity Coalition, said.

The TDC sought assistance for teachers who contracted the virus to ease their medical and financial burden.

“Our teachers are now going through enormous challenges, from lack of learning modules, excessive workload, and financial difficulties, aggravated by the rise in Covid19 cases in their communities. What they really need now is a caring DepEd leadership, human compassion that could make things more bearable,” Basas said.

The TDC earlier asked the DepEd to provide the data on Covid19 situation in the entire department.

“We need to be informed on the extent of Covid19 infection in the DepEd. How many teachers and employees have so far tested positive, including the active cases, as well as the total number of those who died of the disease? To what can these infections be attributed, and what will be the available forms of assistance for these teachers and personnel? Will the DepEd be at all providing financial or medical assistance to the patients or their families?” it said.

Last weekend, the group conducted a survey thru Google Forms participated by 465 respondents. Of those who answered, 447 said they personally knew of a teacher or DepEd employee who tested positive for  Covid19 while 18 said that it was confirmed by colleagues.

Of this number, 49 respondents said that they tested positive themselves.

As to the condition of the patients, 307 said that they have recovered, 110 are active cases, 17 were confined in hospitals while 48 have died.

“This survey may not be accurate and can only be used as samples. We will depend on the official data from DepEd once they are released,” Basas said.

The respondents also revealed that the DepEd did not give assistance, apart from occasional offering of prayers, moral support or contact tracing. In most cases, the Bayahinan spirit of voluntary contribution to help one another has been the practice.

“Whether they acquired the virus through community transmission or at home is irrelevant. They are teachers, and the DepEd, their employer has responsibility to them. They serve the government as frontliners of education service, which made them even more prone to infection,” Basas said.

The TDC lamented that the DepEd’s recent prioritization of the week-long YouTube seminar, the order to adopt the four sets of new uniforms, and profiling members of two teachers’ organizations are proof that the agency has detached itself from the everyday realities confronting teachers.