DepEd will release its P3,500 ($70) cash allowance for teachers by June.
Cash allowance for teaching materials
Annually, the DepEd is providing cash allowances for teachers amounting to P3,500 ($70) for the purpose of purchasing teaching materials to be used for the whole school year. Normally, this budget isn’t enough to last for the whole school year, considering the materials teachers have to purchase out of this allowance.
Teaching materials to be purchased from this cash allowance includes the following: reams of coupon bond papers, boxes of chalk or permanent markers, ink for printers, classroom supplies, and materials to be used for grade submission and progress reports by teachers.
According to Annalyn Sevilla, the Undersecretary for Finance, the cash allowance approved last May 4, to be released by June will help teachers procure teaching materials intended for the Learning Continuity Plan (LCP). The DepEd came up with an LCP for public schools amid the COVID-19 outbreak in the Philippines.
Schools are expected to open by August
With the reopening of classes in the Philippines scheduled on August 24, DepEd releases a memorandum for its teachers to start preparing for the next school year by June.
It is not clear if the P3,500 ($70) cash allowance to be released by the department for the implementation of the LCP will be the same annual cash allowance teachers get for teaching materials and office supplies. Teachers are hoping that it is a separate budget, not taking away personal money for any excess expenses.
Details about the LCP are yet to be divulged by DepEd. The LCP is composed of school guidelines on how to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan might also contain some alterations in the current K-12 system.
Featured image by Rappler
