DAVAO City Rep. Paolo Duterte has filed a bill granting a tax-exempt P2,000 allowance per month during the school year for public school teachers to cover expenses for teaching supplies and materials.
The eldest son of former President Rodrigo Duterte filed House Bill No. 3543 seeking to institutionalize the grant of the P2,000 “Teaching Supplies Allowance” for public school teachers in the basic education sector as the country gradually returns to face-to-face classes.
“Public school teachers will have to cope with even more expenses to carry out their responsibilities once full face-to-face classes are implemented. Our proposal will help ease these financial woes,” the bill said.
The bill said adding to the rigors of teaching are expenses for supplies and materials that public school teachers frequently buy using their own money.
Under their measure, the cash allowance covers the purchase of both “tangible and intangible” teaching supplies and materials for the implementation or conduct of various learning delivery modalities (LDMs) “within the school year.”
The Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) is mandated under the bill to “conduct a periodic review of the Teaching Supplies Allowance, taking into account the current prices of teaching supplies and materials, and, if warranted, recommend the necessary increase in the amount of the allowance.”
Currently, the grant of the cash allowance to augment the teaching expenses of public school teachers, formerly known as the “chalk allowance,” is given based on the provisions indicated in the national budget.
Under the 2020 GAA, the cash allowance was P3,500 per school year that was later increased to P5,000 per school year under the GAAs for fiscal year 2021 and 2022.
