DepEd seeks to provide teachers with additional benefits instead of salary increase

 The Department of Education (DepEd) plans to give additional benefits to teachers instead of raising their salaries, according to its spokesperson.

DepEd Spokesperson Michael Poa said at a press conference on Wednesday that the plan had already been presented to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who had instructed the agency to study the proposal further.

"We will be looking into non-basic wage benefits that we can give them para naman madagdagan 'yong take-home nila," said Poa, but he refused to specify the benefits to avoid "preempting" DepEd's study.

Poa explained that the DepEd chose to give more benefits than a wage increase to avoid making public school teachers' salaries "too high," which could lead to a teacher exodus from private schools.

"If we increase the basic wage of the teachers, if we make it too high, it will affect the private sector kasi either lilipat 'yong teachers in the private sector to the government or baka hindi kayanin ng private sector tapatan, baka magsara 'yong private sector," said Poa.

Poa stated that under the Salary Standardization Act, teachers' salaries have increased annually since 2019, with the final tranche to be implemented next year.