Tinio presses education reforms
Tinio said the upcoming State of the Nation Address and budget deliberations would be the ‘ultimate test’ of the administration’s political will.
Tinio said the upcoming State of the Nation Address and budget deliberations would be the ‘ultimate test’ of the administration’s political will.
ACT Teachers Partylist Representative Antonio Tinio on Friday urged the administration to prioritize measures addressing what he described as the country’s education crisis.
Tinio said the concerns of educators and students should finally be addressed, particularly as the budget season approaches, when funding for the education sector will be determined.
“Teachers came here last May not just to advocate for their own welfare, but to demand that Congress fix a broken education system that is failing our children... the demands of our teachers must be at the forefront, not treated as an afterthought,” he said.
The lawmaker was referring to the lobbying activity organized by ACT Teachers on 26 May, when teachers from private, public and tertiary educational institutions gathered at the House of Representatives to push for reforms.
Among the proposals were raising the entry-level salary of public school teachers to P50,000 and increasing the economic relief fund granted to teachers.
Tinio also criticized what he described as the “rushed” implementation of the new three-semester academic system, saying the Department of Education failed to provide teachers with adequate orientation.
“Teachers are not lab rats. This system should be tested carefully before being imposed on the entire country,” he said.
On teachers’ salaries, Tinio rejected claims that funding was unavailable, pointing to corruption scandals uncovered over the past year.
“There is a budget. The problem is it gets stored in luggages and armored vans of corrupt officials. This is the reason why teachers are joining the fight against corruption and echoing the call to imprison all officials involved in the corruption scandals,” he said.
Tinio said the upcoming State of the Nation Address and budget deliberations would be the “ultimate test” of the administration’s political will.
“Congress must listen and act, not with promises, but with concrete legislation and budget allocations that show teachers are valued,” he said.
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