THE COMMITTEE on Basic Education and Culture of the House of Representatives has approved the substitute bill that will provide public school teachers with an allowance for teaching supplies.

The measure is a consolidation of House Bills 547, 714, 1849, 1893, 1913, 2697, 2781, 2829, 3476, 3543, 4072, 4383, 4982, 5688, 6977, 7057 and 7720.

The panel also adopted Senate Bill 1964, which provides that the allowance for each teacher will be P7,500 for School Year 2023-2024, and P10,000 per teacher for SY 2024-2025 and thereafter.

During the hearing of the committee headed by Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo, ACT NCR Union President Ruby Bernardo expressed full support for the bill.

Bernardo said that the bill will enable teachers to innovate and incorporate information and communication technology tools in their teaching methods.

The Department of Education is also supportive of efforts to alleviate the plight of public school teachers but the agency will defer to the decision of Congress, DEPED Employee Welfare Division Chief Francis Allen Dela Cruz said.