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By Al Jacinto, Correspondent
SULU ISLANDS: More than 1,300 Muslim teachers
took their licensure examination on Sunday, the second time since
last year that the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) held
such examinations in the province. President Gloria Arroyo ordered
the licensure examination in Sulu following the request of Sulu Gov.
Sakur Tan.
Tan said the teachers couldn’t afford to go to
Zamboanga City to take the examinations.
“It was so difficult for the teachers to go to
Zamboanga because they could not afford to pay the cost of travel.
With a meager salary, teachers would rather spend their money on
food and medicines,” Tan told The Manila Times.
The examination, held at the Sulu State College,
took more than 8 hours and the teachers were optimistic about
passing the long and arduous written test.
German Palabyab, PRC Director, said at least
1,370 teachers took the examination. He said they would hold another
licensure examination in September. “From now on there will be
regular licensure examinations for teachers in Sulu, at least twice
a year and this is all part of our effort to help in the educational
system in the province,” he said.
Palabyab admitted the difficulties of the
teachers in Sulu to take the examinations in Zamboanga City were due
to of the high cost of travel and other expenses.
“It is difficult really for the teachers to
become professionals because they have to attend review sessions
that cost an arm and a leg. President Arroyo is very supportive of
our endeavor and we are happy to be part of this. We all have a
stake in the future of our young people,” he said.
Last week, Tan hired a group of educators to
conduct review classes for the teachers to prepare for the licensure
examination.
Many temporary state teachers in Sulu have not
been paid their salaries the past months, others since 2007, because
they lack government requirements, such as the PRC license that will
enable them to be professionals.
Hundreds of teachers last year had walked out of
their classes to protest the alleged failure of the Department of
Education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to pay
their salaries. But regional education officials insisted the
teachers have not been paid because they either did not pass the PRC
licensure examination or were not qualified.
Sulu has more than 5,000 teachers and about 900
of them are with temporary status serving some 50,000 students in 19
towns.
Teachers here have blamed problems of delayed
and missing salaries and contributions to the Government Service
Insurance System (GSIS) to corruption. More than P389 million of
teachers’ contributions to GSIS were allegedly missing and this
has ballooned to over P600 million over the years and yet ARMM
continues to deduct insurance premiums from their salaries.
The teachers were asking for a formal
Congressional or Senate investigation into the missing GSIS
contributions and salaries and jail those who would be found guilty
of embezzling funds.
The Department of Education topped the list of
the government budget recipients with P138 billion allocated as
follows: P2 billion for the repair of school buildings; P760 million
to cover the backlog of classrooms; and P420 million for school
seats and P330 million to hire new teachers.
But while the bulk of the national budget goes
to education, it remains inadequate to address the problems
crippling the education sector.
The Public Services Labor Independent
Confederation (PSLINK), a national confederation of government
employees and their unions and associations, said teachers are among
the skilled workers that have joined the exodus of Filipinos leaving
for abroad due to the lure of higher pay.
Attracting and retaining competent public school
teachers remains a huge problem in the Philippines. Many state
teachers are overworked but underpaid.
A public school teacher here only gets around
P10,000-P15,000 a month while a Filipino teacher in the United
States can earn up to P40,000 or more. Low-paying jobs, deplorable
working conditions and lack of opportunities in the country also
drive some teachers to become domestic workers or caregivers just to
be able to work abroad.
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