Teachers seek full pay for ‘vacation time’ work

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) asked the Department of Education (DepEd) on Wednesday to upgrade its guidelines on the pay of teachers who opt to work in July even before the opening of the new School Year 2024-2025.

ACT Chair Vladimer Quetua urged the DepEd to grant participating teachers full pay because their work load and daily expenses are the same as ordinary school days, even if they only work for a few hours.

The preschool opening activities include the National Learning Camps, Palarong Pambansa, student enrollment and the “Brigada Eskwela” program.

Quetua explained that their demand was connected to the recently issued Department Order (DO) No. 003, series of 2024, which sets gradual adjustments in the school calendar in preparation for returning to the old academic schedule in which classes start in June and end in March.

Under DepEd’s DO 3, teachers will enjoy a 30-day break from June 1 to 30, which means they cannot be compelled to do work. But after that, they can—on their own volition—take part in school activities.

READ: Teachers also need rest after 10 months of work, group tells DepEd

Quetua said that public school teachers willingly join such activities, usually done in July, but they are not given full pay because they can only work for a few hours in a day.

Normally, teachers would have to render eight hours of work during these activities to get full pay.

“The teachers are on the losing side under this kind of policy because even if we only work for a few hours, we bear the same exhaustive feeling and our expenses are the same as that of a whole day of work,” Quetua told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

The ACT will write to the DepEd as soon

… Read more