MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Magandang araw, Malacañang Press Corps, and welcome sa ating press briefing ngayong araw, July 11.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. led the sectoral meeting this morning where the accomplishment reports of the Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education were presented and discussed.

To give us more information on this, we are joined by DepEd Undersecretary Michael Poa and CHEd Chairperson Prospero de Vera III. Good morning, Usec. Poa and Chairperson De Vera.

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: Good morning.

DEPED USEC. POA: Good morning.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Let’s start with the CHEd. Chairperson De Vera, please.

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: Thank you, Daphne.

In this morning’s meeting, we submitted to the President the accomplishment report of the Commission as far as the first year of administration is concerned, and we gave six areas where we submitted the verifiable and measurable success indicators.

The first one is universal access to quality tertiary education, which means that we have increased access to free public education in the more than 200 public universities and colleges.

Second one is our achievement in compliance to the EMSA non-compliance issue. So we continue to improve and make maritime education in the Philippines world-class.

The third one is our achievements in terms of addressing the nursing education issue, particularly in coming up with long-term, medium-term and immediate actions that can be done to address the shortage of Filipino nurses.

The fourth one is expanding medical education to students who are interested to serve in the country.

The fifth one is going into niche programs, particularly science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We’re looking for programs where we can produce world-class Filipino manpower to take advantage of the niche needs in the global market.

And finally, on our internationalization of Philippine higher education.

So those were the six areas that we discussed with the president, and we identified the verifiable success indicators and data to show that in the first year of the Marcos administration, there was a significant achievement and change in terms of the higher education sector.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay, thank you. Before we open the floor for questions, let’s move on to Usec. Poa. Are there any updates you’d like to share, sir?

DEPED USEC. POA: Yes, ma’am. Good morning, everyone. Good afternoon na ba?

Similar to CHEd, tayo rin po sa DepEd, we also presented our accomplishments since July 2022 hanggang ngayon and, we also presented our plans moving forward. Of course, we also presented our plans moving forward.

Of course, we presented updates on the curriculum. As you all know, tapos na po iyong review natin noong K-to-10 curriculum while the senior high school curriculum is still undergoing review.

Pinakita rin po natin kung ano iyong mga nagawa natin from the time that we welcomed our 28.4 million learners to school back in August 2022; and, of course, our national learning recovery program. We highlighted iyong ating national learning camps that we will be piloting very soon ‘no, July 24, which will offer enhancement, consolidation and also intervention camps for our learners during the break.

Aside from that, we also focused on what we’ve done in terms of learners’ welfare and teachers’ welfare.

Of course, for the details, siguro huwag muna tayong magbigay ng ganoon baka kasi ma-preempt pa natin iyong mga sasabihin ng ating Pangulo pagdating ng SONA. But we will be open to questions if there will be any, later on. Thank you.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Now, we open the floor for questions. Job Manahan, ABS-CBN Online.

JOB MANAHAN/ABS-CBN ONLINE: Good morning, Attorney Poa.

DEPED USEC. POA: Good morning.

JOB MANAHAN/ABS-CBN ONLINE: Sir, iyong question po is, there is a post circulating on social media, viral na siya ngayon, regarding doon sa memorandum na wala nang top 1 and valedictorian. Sabi dito, “Announcement of with highest honors, with high honors and with honors must be made in alphabetical order not from highest to lowest within categories.” Well, this was released in 2021; it’s gaining reaction po. So can you clarify to us iyong memorandum?

DEPED USEC. POA: We will check on that, sir. This is actually the first time that I’ve heard about that memorandum. So we will check on with our field operations, and we will contact you and get back to you so that masagot natin kung ano ang pinagmulan nitong memorandum na ito specifically since it was from the previous administration pa.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Ivan Mayrina, GMA 7.

IVAN MAYRINA/GMA7: Chairperson De Vera, sir, tungkol dito sa ating efforts to produce more nurses dito sa bansa. Can you fill us in on the status of our measures being taken para ho dumami ang ating mga nurses?

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: Okay. We submitted to the President long-term, medium-term and immediate actions that can be done to address the nursing shortage. The long-term action is that we have lifted the ten-year moratorium on the creation of new nursing programs. So there are 54 universities that applied to open nursing programs, and our estimate is that these 54 universities once approved, can produce about 2,052 students by academic year 2027-2028. So that’s the long-term – you lift the nursing moratorium so you will have more schools that will offer nursing programs and produce more graduates. But we don’t have to wait for five, six years to produce more.

The medium-term is we are working with TESDA, to create what we call health care assistants and health care associates. You know, the hospitals are saying that the nurses have too many tasks that they are unable to focus on patient care. So we are working with the Private Sector Advisory Council in the Department of Health to identify the tasks that nurses should not be doing anymore so they can focus on patient care. For example, iyong regular na pagkuha ng blood pressure, pagkuha ng temperature, pag-aayos ng pasyente, those skills will be produced by a shorter program to produce what we call health care associates and health care assistants. This can be a certificate or diploma program issued by TESDA or CHEd or by both so that we produce—you don’t have to wait for five years to produce it; we can produce it within a year or two years so we will have supplemental workforce to address the needs of our hospitals. That’s the medium-term.

The medium-term also is we are developing a fast-tracked master’s program because what we saw is that many of the schools cannot open a lot of sections because they lack teachers with master’s degrees; a lot of the nursing faculty with master’s degrees are also being recruited by other countries. So we are producing a short-term fast-tracked master’s program to produce more teachers so that the schools can have more classes. So that’s the medium-term.

The immediate is, you know, only about 50% of nursing graduates pass the licensure test. So there’s 50% of individuals, graduates – they have been trained in the hospitals, they have gone through the program – who are not nurses because they did not pass the licensure test. So, we’re working now with the Department of Health and the private hospitals and the universities that have very good track record in having review classes. So we will hold special review classes for those employed in the DOH and in private hospitals as aides or assistants so that they can pass the licensure test and we can produce more graduates.

So we told the President, there is a pool of nursing graduates out there who for one reason or another, was not able to pass the licensure. Why don’t we help them the pass the licensure test or re-skill them to be health care assistants, health care workers.

So those are the long-term, medium-term and immediate steps that we have initiated under this administration.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Tuesday Niu, DZBB.

TUESDAY NIU/DZBB: Chairman De Vera, sir, follow up question lang po, sir. So saan ninyo … okay lang iyong nakikita, sir, na mapapasimulan na iyong pagkuha natin ng mga nursing graduates na hindi nakapasa sa licensure exam para gawin silang health care assistants sa mga ospital?

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: Well, iyong mga hindi nakapasa, they will not necessarily be health care assistants. The first intervention is, help them become nurses by helping them review for the licensure test. Ang gagawa niyan, iyong magagaling na mga universities na mayroong review classes and we will give grants to the universities; the private hospital said they will send and pay for their employees who did not pass the licensure so they can pass. So that’s the first track.

The other one is possibly re-skill them to become support services in the hospital, that’s already happening in many hospitals now; they have jobs that are not nurses because they did not pass the licensure. So, we don’t have to wait a long time. Iyong review class that can start any time because we already have an agreement with the Department of Health and some private hospitals to do this.

IVAN MAYRINA/GMA7: Follow up, sir. Have you looked at the numbers, ilan ho ang posible nating madagdag sa ating pool of nurses dito? Sapat na ho ba ito para mapunan ang pangangailangan ng mga ospital natin dito at puwede pa kayang mag-abroad iyong ibang mga nurses, sa mga humihingi?

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: Hindi agad-agad kasi kung mapagsasabay-sabay lahat itong intervention na ito, mas madali nating magawan ng solusyon. Like for example, if you have the health care associates/health care assistants … if the nurses are de-loaded of some of the work they do, they can focus on patient care to cover more patients. So iyong number of nurses na kailangan mo mas mama-manage mo.

Kung madaming gustong magkaroon ng libreng review, eh ‘di mas madami ang puwedeng makapasa. Kasi kapag tiningnan mo ang data sa Philippines – iyong top nursing schools, those that have very good review classes, hundred percent ang passing ng mga iyan – both public and private. If they will do the review class, the probability is that those who will review there will also have a higher possibility of passing. So depende iyan kung ilan ang gustong mag-review at saka kung ilan ang gustong maging health care associate at saka assistant.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Nestor Corrales, Philippine Daily Inquirer.

NESTOR CORRALES/INQUIRER.NET: Good morning. This is for Chairperson De Vera. Sir, there are proposals that the government should instead focus on better pay instead of revamped nursing program to address the nursing crisis in the Philippines. Where are we in terms of addressing these particular concerns because hundreds of thousands of nurses leave the country because particularly, their main purpose was to find greener pasture and better salaries abroad?

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: Ah, okay. First, it’s not an ‘either/or’ question; it’s not either you have to raise the salaries to solve the problem. The strategy should be multiple solutions that we are providing. While there’s an effort to look into increasing salaries, there should also be an effort to produce more graduates at the same time; and there should also be an effort to re-skill the existing ones and see how many of those who fail the licensure test can be assisted to pass it, ‘no.

You know, the fact that our nurses are in-demand abroad is actually good news because that means we produce world-class nurses. I think we should be worried if our professionals are not acceptable abroad – that means our educational system is not good. So it’s a good sign, we just have to manage it better by producing more nurses. And for example, in state universities and colleges, we can actually put a return service agreement in the education of our nurses because nursing is covered under free higher education or the scholarships that we provide can have a return service agreement, you know, so that you stay here before you want to practice your profession abroad so we have a pool of nurses that we continue to produce.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Maricel Halili, TV-5.

MARICEL HALILI/TV5: Sir, magandang umaga. Chair De Vera, the last time you were here, you mentioned that there were 15 maritime programs sa mga schools and colleges na na-suspend.

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: Nasara, nasara.

MARICEL HALILI/TV5: Nasara, okay. So, ano na po ‘yung update dito? Nadagdagan po ba iyong mga programa na nasara?

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: Hindi pa naman, kasi our commitment to EMSA is we will review and inspect all the 83 higher education institutions that are offering maritime programs. Before you decide to close the program, you have to go through inspection, you have to go through validation, you have to give them a show cause order to explain the deficiencies that they have and there is even a process for them to seek reconsideration, so hindi naman—iyong proseso has due process and it takes some time. So hindi puwede iyong ‘pag na-inspect mo, pag-alis mo isasara na – there’s a process. So, wala pang additional kasi nag-i-inspect pa lang kami ngayon ng mga additional schools.

MARICEL HALILI/TV5: Nag-seek po ba sila for reconsideration?

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: Iyong 15 na sinara, nag-seek ng reconsideration iyong madami; hindi pinagbigyan, sinara pa rin iyong program. Mayroon ding nag-seek ng reconsideration – when we inspected them again, we found out that they were compliant so they were allowed to continue their programs.

MARICEL HALILI/TV5: Both for Chair De Vera and Usec. Poa. Iyon pong ginawang meeting kanina, part siya noong preparation for the State of the Nation Address, what do you want the President to include in his SONA and ano po iyong mga challenges na niri-request natin like if you—mayroon bang particular policies or programs that both CHEd and DepEd would like to pursue or get the support of the President?

DEPED USEC. POA: Well, I think if you’re asking for CHEd and DepEd ‘no, we are part of the TEC – iyong Teachers Education Council ‘no – so iyon ‘yung isang pamaraan para po ma-improve din natin iyong teaching quality sa Pilipinas. If you remember, during the basic education report of the Vice President, she raised the concern on teaching quality but she reminded all of us na hindi po kasalanan ng mga teachers iyan ‘no – it’s really our system. And so, we would like that to be—siguro if you’re asking for something, a program that can happen between CHEd and DepEd na gusto nating maisulong, iyan po ‘yung TEC.

Now secondly, on the part of DepEd siyempre po ‘no, we presented iyong atin ring plan ‘no to institutionalize blended learning for example in the Philippines as a permanent mode of delivery. We feel that alongside iyong traditional solutions natin of hiring more teachers, building more classrooms to address the shortages, hindi po kasi mabilis o hindi nagagawa iyan overnight – that’s why these problems are still with us today.

And that’s why we also presented that we are now going on a two-track approach wherein alongside the traditional solutions of building more classrooms and hiring more teachers, we also want to tap into technology ‘no – lessons we learned during the pandemic. Kasi noong pandemya, na-realize natin na puwede pala iyong blended learning, puwede pala iyong online classes. So we want to use that to be able to decongest our schools – this will effectively and efficiently resolve iyong issues as to teachers’ shortage and classroom shortage in a quicker span of time.

But of course bago natin i-implement iyan, kailangan masigurado natin na kapag in-implement natin ay maging epektibo naman siya sa pag-aaral ng mga bata. Ayaw naman nating basta-basta mag-blended learning tayo and then quality of education suffers. That’s why before we roll that out, we really want to ensure looking at best practices even in the private sector, kung papaano nai-implement iyong blended learning para po masigurado natin that once we implement it, we will not affect the quality of education.

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: Yeah. On the part of CHEd, the six that I mentioned that we reported to the president are not the only achievements of CHEd ‘no. But we picked the six because they have verifiable data that can be checked – meaning, we can compare how many was achieved in one year versus the previous years ‘no. So we highlighted the six and we presented data to the President to show what has happened ‘no.

For example, we are pushing for more public universities to have medical programs; there are now 18 medical schools in state universities and colleges where students can get scholarship for their medical education and they will serve in underserved areas after they graduate. Out of the 18, the original number was eight okay, under the Duterte administration, four were produced or four programs are opened in five years; under the Marcos administration, six medical programs are opened in one year. So we really presented those where there was a significant difference. So these new medical schools offers scholarships, they have state-of-the-art equipment to produce world-class doctors who will serve in underserved areas. Ganoon din iyong ginawa namin in each of the six. And then our moving forward is number one is to ensure there is sustainability. You know, you need resources to sustain free higher ed, you need resources to sustain compliance with producing world-class seafarers, you need a sustained funding for the nursing programs, etc.

But we also said that there are certain things, certain new policies which we would want to do for the rest of the five years of the Marcos administration. For example, we increase access to higher education: 41% participation rate now – so ibig sabihin, 41% of university-age students are enrolled in universities. That’s a significant increase from the 2016, 2015 data which was a little over 30% – so tumaas by 10% ‘no. The unintended result of that is that admission to public universities has become very, very difficult. You know Ivan Mayrina only knows the difficulty of getting to UP because you have 14,500 slots and 120,000 applicants.

But UP is not a unique case. The other public universities – PUP, the acceptance rate now is between 15 to 20% only of the applicants; the top schools, 30%, 40%. Meaning, so many students want to get their education but they could not hurdle the admission test. Now, the impact of that is as more and more apply, those who are better prepared to take the admission, those whose parents had money for a review class, those who are better prepared are the ones who are able to avail of free higher education.

It is time that we focus on equity, meaning a conscious effort to identify the groups that we need to bring to university education that can be marginalized because of the admission process and the competitiveness. So, we are pushing that for the next five years, we will focus on inclusive education of telling our public universities to be very conscious in identifying students from public schools, students from poverty areas, the children of indigenous people, those who have been marginalized to assist them pass the admission test because once they get into public education they don’t anymore pay tuition and miscellaneous fees and they can be assisted. So, we want that to be the moving forward for the Marcos administration – an administration that will make sure inclusive education is realized.

So, those are what we presented to the President moving forward in the next five years, among other things.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Racquel Bayan.

RACQUEL BAYAN: Sir, question po for Usec. Poa. Sir, you mentioned po kanina tapos na nating i-review iyong K to 10 curriculum. How about, sir, iyong K to 12 program, ano na po iyong status noon ngayon?

DEPED USEC. POA: Okay. Sa ngayon kasi, para maintindihan ng lahat ‘no, iyong K to 12 program actually nasa batas iyan. So, we will stay with the K to 12 Program at least on the part of DepEd unless the law is amended. So, ang ginawa natin is we reviewed iyong K to 12 Curriculum at sabi nga natin kanina ay tapos na po tayo doon, in fact we will be launching it in a few weeks but for implementation school year 2024 to 2025.

Pero iyon namang senior high school curriculum which is Grades 11 and 12 tuloy naman po iyan. We are reviewing it at the moment, kakasimula lang po niyan noong November. We just formed a national task force to review that, of course the aim as we’ve always been saying pagdating sa senior high school is to align the curriculum with industry demand kasi nga ‘di ba ang parati nating sinasabi, ang promise ng K to 12 is that magiging employable iyong mga learners pero we have to admit hindi iyan nangyayari sa ngayon. So, we are looking at ways ‘no to align that into industry demands to boost employability, attractiveness of our learners to be employed.

But doon sa K to 10 review, since tapos na tayo doon, ang feedback naman ng mga experts natin ay highly congested kasi iyong current K to 10 natin – ibig sabihin noon, napakaraming kailangan matutunan ng learners na learning competencies within a school year, napakarami ring kailangan ituro ng mga guro within the school year which makes mastery of the subjects very difficult.

So, in order to improve the quality of basic education dito sa ating inilabas na K to 10 curriculum ay madi-decongest natin siya. We will allot more time for the fundamentals such as Math, Science, English, Reading, and of course hindi natin kinakalimutan iyong parating naisasantabi na values formation subjects; so, iyan po iyong in gist, iyong ating K-to-10 Curriculum or revised K-to-10 Curriculum.

We released the guides for public comments noong Mayo, noong May and we did receive a lot of comments from experts, members of the academe, general public. And that’s why it took us time ‘no, we had to consider all the comments for the final tweaks and now we’re done and we will be launching it, as we said, in a few weeks’ time.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Chona Yu, Radyo Inquirer.

CHONA YU/RADYO INQUIRER: Sir, napag-usapan din po ba sa meeting kanina iyong mandatory ROTC? I understand isa iyan sa mga priority bill ni Presidente noong unang SONA pero hindi po naipasa noong Kongreso.

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: Hindi iyon napag-usapan kasi hindi pa naipasa iyong batas. Ang pinag-usapan kanina iyong concrete achievements ng mga agencies in the first year of the administration. Since the law has not been passed so, we await for the passage. So, we cannot report it to the President.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Tuesday Niu, DZBB, again.

TUESDAY NIU/DZBB: Chairman, follow up lang po doon sa nurses natin. Umiiral pa rin po ba up to now iyong cap or limit ng pagpapadala ng nurses natin abroad to 5,000 I think to 7,000? And tingin ninyo ito ay kailangan nang mai-adjust or tanggalin na kasi hindi naman din natin puwedeng pigilan iyong nurses natin na humanap ng mas magandang career para sa kanila abroad?

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: Sa DOLE at saka DMW iyan, hindi sa CHEd ‘no. But on the part of CHEd, our philosophy is we just have to keep on producing more nurses to satisfy both our domestic needs and our international needs because our professionals or our nurses want to practice their profession abroad because we produce world-class nurses.

So, the challenge is how you satisfy both domestic and international requirement? That’s how we are developing the curriculum, that’s how we are linking universities in the Philippines with universities abroad; the target is to produce world-class nurses.

Hopefully, they will here before they serve abroad or they can serve both abroad and here because after all once a Filipino professional goes abroad and works there he/she continues to be a Filipino – magpapadala pa rin ng balikbayan box iyan, pag-aaralin ang mga kamag-anak niya, hindi naman nawawala iyong pagka-Pilipino ng isang Filipino who works abroad. In the same way that we produce world-class seafarers in our maritime program and we dominate the market for seafarers because we do not want to produce only for the domestic market; we have to produce for the domestic and foreign markets.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay.

CELINE DORADO/ NET 25: Sirs, there’s have been talk about before, ano po ang opinyon ng education sector sa una nang panukala na ibalik po iyong academic or school calendar ng mga mag-aaral?

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: On the part of higher education, the academic calendar is determined by individual schools, we don’t have a law or a requirement mandating it. You know why? Because different schools have different modalities; you know, La Salle is trimester, mayroong ibang schools na quarterly, may regular two semesters. It is not logical to fix a start and an end – iyon iyong una. So, they adjust it and then they go to our regional offices, inform our regional offices

The more important one is when we shifted the calendar, we aligned it with how the other universities abroad do it and that’s very crucial for higher education because you need pathways for students to enroll, for faculty members to move back and forth. So faculty mobility, student mobility will be affected if your calendar is different.

When we were in the old calendar and you wanted to enroll abroad you lose one year, one academic year because the end of your semester is in the middle of the semester of other schools – so you cannot enter anymore. If you wait for the next semester you technically lose one year, and we don’t want to restrict the opportunities for internationalization of our students, our faculty. Universities also want to send their students to study in University in the Philippines. They also cannot do that if the calendars are not aligned. And finally, if you want to do joint researchers/faculty exchanges, the timelines must be the same. Otherwise, the universities would not want to partner with Philippine universities because the administrative challenges are going to be very difficult.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay, Cresilyn Catarong, SMNI.

CRESILYN CATARONG/SMNI: Good afternoon, Usec. Poa po. Sir, regarding po doon sa na-mention ninyo na National Learning Camp, pagdating sa participation po ng mga guro, is it voluntary po? May mari-receive po ba silang mga incentives? Ano po ang detalye tungkol dito?

DEPED USEC. POA: Yes po, thank you po. Ang ating National Learning Camp ay voluntary both on the part of the teachers, so sa mga guro at voluntary din po siya sa part ng mga learners natin. So basically, iyong National Learning Camp po, ito iyong tinatawag nating parang remedial classes noon na ginagawa during school break. Pero ang sabi nga natin, noong dati kapag nag-summer class ka o nag-remedial class ka, ibig sabihin noon ay bumagsak ka or mababa iyong grades mo. That is the stigma that we want to get rid of, that is why—kasi nga ang priority natin ngayon is learning-recovery after the pandemic, alam naman natin na maraming mga interventions na kailangan at alam naman natin na sa international assessments ay hindi ganoon kaganda iyong performance natin.

And that is why this is part of our National Learning Recovery Program. So ano ang kaibahan nitong learning camps natin doon sa summer classes or remedial classes? Itong learning camps, hindi lang po iyong mga mababa iyong grade o iyong bagsak iyong inaanyayahan nating sumali. That is why we have three different camps under the National Learning Camp: Iyong una ay iyong Enhancement Camp; pangalawa ay iyong Consolidation Camp; pangatlo ay iyong Intervention Camp.

So, ano ang pagkakaiba? Nag-pretest po kasi tayo the past two weeks nagkaroon ng mga pre-test sa ating mga schools and based on the pre-test conducted, doon natin nalalaman na kung iyong learner ay sasali sa National Learning Camp natin, kung saan dapat siya.

Kung mayroon na siyang degree of mastery pero gusto lang niyang lalong madagdagan pa iyong kaalaman niya, then they can join the enhancement camp. Kung mayroon naman siyang competence pagdating sa mga learning areas, pero hindi pa siya masasabing naka-acquire ng mastery, they can join the Consolidation Camp para po ma-link iyong mga different concepts together, mas lalong maintindihan noong bata. And then lastly, doon naman sa kailangan talaga nating tulungan na magkaroon ng assistance, mayroon po tayong Intervention Camp; kaya tatlo po iyong camp natin.

For this year, since pilot lang po siya, although Learning Camp is open to all grade levels, iyong tatlong camps na iyan plus the special materials in Science, Math and English ay exclusively for Grade 7 and 8 lang po. So, obviously gusto natin sana lahat may ganoon. But, since pilot lang ito, magsimula lang po tayo this year, see kung ano iyong mga makuha nating learning and results ng Grade 7 and 8, tapos we plan to expand that next year.

Doon naman po sa tanong kung anong mga incentives na makukuha ng guro, iyong mga guro po dahil voluntary naman po ito, makakatanggap po sila ng service credits. Iyong service credits natin, as we know, sa ngayon kasi mayroong limit iyan na 15 days kada taon na ibinibigay sa mga guro. So, ito pong service credits na binibigay natin will be exclusive of that 15-day limit. Hindi po siya sakop noon, it will be over-and-above the 15-day limit upang pasasalamat na rin natin sa voluntary work na ginawa ng ating mga guro.

And aside from that, we are also looking at providing meals. Sa ngayon hindi ko pa po masabi ng kongkreto because our operations in our curriculum departments are working kung anong meals iyong mapo-provide natin for our teachers; for our learners naman po, I think it’s nice to emphasize that we want to make this fun. So hindi lang siya puro aral, it’s around four and a half hours of studying a day sa learning camp, but we are now partnering with the private sector to have some fun activities, and those are integrated into the camp. Mayroong mga mamimigay ng ice cream for example in some areas; mayroon namang nag-offer na partner sa atin ng free eye check-up and this will help kasi you know in our experience there are times when iyong sinasabi nating hindi marunong magbasa iyong bata, actually hindi lang pala talaga niya nakikita so, kapag binigyan mo ng glasses nakakatulong.

So these are the things that the private sector is helping us with dito sa learning camps. Hopefully, once its piloted starting July 24, mag-usap ulit tayo para magkaroon naman tayo ng assessment kung kumusta naman iyong nangyari sa ating learning camp this break.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay, last question from Racquel Bayan.

RACQUEL BAYAN/RADYO PILIPINAS: For Usec. Poa. Sir, again, are we considering po iyong increase ng payment for our teachers? And if yes po, ano na po kaya iyong mga ginagawa ng DepEd para maisulong po iyong pagpapataas ng suweldo ng mga guro sa bansa?

DEPED USEC. POA: Pagdating po kasi sa suweldo ng mga guro, as we all know, the teachers are part of the Salary Standardization Law ‘no, being civil servants, so nasa batas po iyan. DepEd alone cannot really just unilaterally change or increases salaries. This year naman po nakatanggap ng karagdagang increase iyong ating mga guro. Pero on the part of the DepEd, we are also procuring the services of third party experts to help us determine din kung akma ba talaga iyong sahod ng guro sa ngayon on their own without comparing them to other industries. And then also to see kung akma or kung hindi akma, at least may sagot tayo doon. And then we are looking at the years to come gusto rin nating makuha dito sa pini-prepare nating study from the experts kung kailangang magkaroon ng increases in the next few years, gusto naman natin malaman kung ano iyong tamang rate of increase considering the inflation rates also.

So, once the study is with us we will at least be have evidence-based comments kung dapat nating itaas iyong salary o hindi. But definitely, idagdag ko lang, tayo naman sa DepEd we are continuously advocating for any additional benefits that we can give our teachers, that is why we are also looking at other areas na kung saan natin sila puwedeng matulungan in terms of health insurance or free legal aid and the like. So iyon iyong mga bagay na tinitingnan natin na makakatulong pagdating sa net take home pay rin ng ating mga guro.

MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Thank you very much for the updates, DepEd Undersecretary Michael Poa and CHEd Chairperson Prospero de Vera. Good afternoon. Thank you so much, Malacañang Press Corps.

DEPED USEC. POA: Maraming salamat po.

CHED CHAIRPERSON DE VERA III: Thank you.

 

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News and Information Bureau – Transcription Section