ACT Teachers Representative France Castro lauded the approval of House Bill 513 An Act Recognizing the Annual Observance of World Education Support Personnel Day at the House Committee on Basic Education and the Committee on Higher and Technical Education.

House Bill 513, principally authored by Castro, was first filed during the 17th Congress declaring May 16 as a special working holiday in the honor of education support personnel, to enable society to celebrate and value their important role in providing quality education to the Filipino people.

“Honoring education support personnel and celebrating their important role in providing quality education for the Filipino people also highlights the duty of government to take concrete steps to promote and protect their status, rights, and conditions of service. It is high time that government dedicate a day to recognize them and their work,” Castro said.

“Education support personnel have been calling for job security as they have been a victim of different kinds of contractualization in government,” she also said.

“Teachers have long been clamoring against being overworked. Due to the shortage of education support personnel in schools, teachers are also tasked to do non-teaching or clerical work on top of their teaching responsibility because the Department of Education lacks education support personnel in schools. These additional tasks for teachers affect the quality of education they provide to their students,” Castro said.

Castro said the bill affirms that the administration of quality education is impossible without teaching assistants, registrars and clerks, school doctors, nurses, and psychologists, guidance counselors, librarians, and the rest of professional, administrative, technical and general staff working in the education sector.

Castro said an estimate from figures in the DepEd staffing summary would show that there are 24 education support personnel for every teacher. The lack of education support personnel forces teachers to fulfil the roles of nurses, guidance counselors, maintenance staff, security guards, clerks and many others.

She said education support personnel in the Philippines are ignored and undervalued just like their international counterparts. Non-teaching personnel in public and private education are paid inadequate salaries and benefits.

The minimum pay for regular employees is far below the living wage, and the salaries of non-regular employees are even lower, Castro stated.

“Setting aside a day as a special working holiday in the honor of education support personnel enables society also raises their calls to increase the budget spent directly for our public schools and education support personnel and the institution of policies to counter and resolve contractualization and the inadequate salaries and benefits of education support personnel just as they set aside a day for their teachers on World Teachers day every October 5 which was also principally authored by ACT Teachers Party-list.

“This bill was formed as Education International, a global union federation raised concerns in the increased exploitation of education support personnel, the absence of decent work conditions and the violation of fundamental human and labor rights, and declared May 16 as Education Support Personnel day. In this light, we urge the House leadership to immediately tackle this measure for its passage into law. It is high time that we recognize education support personnel and the importance of their work to provide quality of education to the Filipino people,” Castro said. /STACY ANG