The Department of Education (DepEd) said Thursday it was working to provide public school teachers and senior high school students (SHS) with internet allowance by next year following the shift to distance learning.
DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones, in requesting for a P4 billion funding from the Department of Budget and Management, said P3.6 billion would be used to cover load allowances for 3.2 million senior high learners and over 900,000 public school teachers across the country, the education department said in a statement.
The remaining part of the requested budget will be used for the production of self-learning modules and learning materials for DepEd’s online and broadcast platforms.
“We recognize the importance of load allowance for our learners and teachers to deliver quality education despite these challenging times due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Briones said.
Teachers have been requesting for additional allowance since the first quarter of 2020 to augment additional expenses incurred due to the shift to distance learning. The DepEd however started classes on Oct. 5 without the grant of such additional allowance.
Once granted, each public school teacher will receive P450 load allowance while senior high students will get P250 per month for a period of three months, the DepEd said.
DepEd Undersecretary Alain Pascua said the DepEd was looking at more ways to boost distance learning and is in talks with telecommunication companies in the Philippines.
Photo: DepEd Philippines
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We teachers are thankful if we can have load allowance without asking for so many proofs like screenshot,printed receipt that we use internet in teaching…it should be automatically given because all of us used internet in this pandemic time.Others have it because they apply for it but others don’t have it because they failed to find proof of billing..etc..