Win hails approval of bill increasing teachers’ chalk allowance

Senator Win Gatchalian on Tuesday hailed the Senate’s third reading approval on Wednesday of a measure that would increase teachers’ allowance for teaching supplies.

Senate Bill 1092 or the proposed Teaching Supplies Allowance Act of 2020 aims to institutionalize and increase the annual teaching supplies allowance, previously known as the “chalk allowance,” from the current P3,500 to P10,000 by S.Y. 2024-2025.

The increase, however, would be gradual considering the fiscal burden that the country faces because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

For school year 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, the teaching supplies allowance would be P5,000 per teacher, which would increase to P7,500 for school year 2023-2024. By 2024-2025 onwards, the amount would be P10,000.

While Gatchalian originally proposed an amount of P5,000 for the teaching supplies allowance before the pandemic, he welcomed the increases that he said would help teachers cope with challenges in the roll-out of distance learning.

Under the measure, this allowance can be used to purchase teaching supplies and materials for the implementation or conduct of various learning modalities, said the chair of the Senate basic education committee.

Once approved into law, the allocation for the teaching supplies allowance will be included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) and charged against the budget of the Department of Education.

“Napapanahon nang taasan natin ang pondong ibinibigay sa mga guro para mabili nila ang kanilang mga pangangailangan sa pagtuturo,” Gatchalian said.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)