A teachers’ group appealed to the Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday for higher cash allowance, commonly known as “chalk allowance” to help educators cope with demands of “blended” learning.
Teachers will need “to upgrade their technological capacity and digital access” to adjust to the demands of the changing education landscape brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC)-NCR President Ildefonso Enguerra III said in a statement.
“The DepEd may consider the provision of gadgets like laptop computers or tablets and internet access to our teachers,” he said.
The group urged the DepEd to consider giving teachers a P1,000 internet allowance since online classes are among the possible modes of education delivery.
“Our experience in the first week of enrollment alone—where we were tasked to enlist the children online through social media, text messages and calls—shows that we will be needing more assistance to deliver the expected output of distance education,” Enguerra said.
“With online tasks continuously growing, we may need more funds to cope-up,” he added.
The DepEd earlier said the P3,500 cash or ‘chalk’ allowance would be released soon.
Classes for school year 2020 to 2021 are set to open on Aug. 24. The DepEd has announced that education delivery can be done via printed modules, online instruction, or with the help of radio and television.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones on Monday aslo assured parents that DepEd would do away with physical or face-to-face classes until a COVID-19 vaccine is available.
“We will comply with the President’s directive to postpone face-to-face classes until a vaccine is available,” she said.
“We assure our parents, learners, stakeholders, and the President that we are preparing ourselves for this mission,” she added.
READ: DepEd mulls training parents, guardians on blended learning as COVID-19 crisis persists
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Pls give also allowance to private school teachers for we depend only on the number of enrollees. Deped pls also consider and not overlook the privatè school teachers. We are one in building responsible and God -fearing citizens.