ACT TEACHERS Partylist Rep.  France Castro on Tuesday slammed the Department of Education for giving teachers endless work despite the end of the 13-month-long school year.

The lawmaker prodded DepEd to release guidelines on the payment of overtime pay and service credit.

“Bakasyon is a prank! Ito ang sabi ng maraming guro sa kabila ng walang tigil at patong-patong na trabaho sa kabila ng kawalan na sapat na overtime pay matapos ang napakahabang pandemic school year,” Castro said.

She said that it has been a month since the school year ended but teachers are still organizing graduation programs, working on final grades and performance evaluation forms among other paperwork. They are also tasked to attend meetings and conduct Brigada Eskwela.

“Sana may malasakit pa ang DepEd para sa mga guro. Bigyan ng panahon para makapagpahinga at maka-recover matapos ang napakahabang pandemic school year na hindi rin naman sila binigyan ng sapat na suporta. Bakasyon is not real for teachers with the ceaseless work despite the supposed school break,” the lawmaker said.

“Maliit na nga ang sweldo, kulang na ang suporta na ibinibigay mula sa kawalan ng mga gadgets para sa blended distance learning, internet allowance at wala ni pisong natanggap ang mga guro ng pampublikong sektor na ayuda mula sa gobyerno, binabarat pa sila sa sapat at deserved overtime pay at service credit na trinabaho naman din nila,” she added.