September 26, 2011
Davao City – In a consultation sponsored by City Councilor Leah Librado of the Committee on Education last Friday (September 23), private school teachers expressed support for the crafting of the Magna Carta for Private School Teachers.
The consultation followed the initiatives by Congressman Antonio Tinio of the ACT Teachers Partylist to pass a house bill providing for the Magna Carta intended to protect the rights of the private school teachers.
According to Dr. Regina Sonia Amiscua, as she gave participants a peek into the situation of Davao City private school teachers through a research tool that out of more than 40 private schools in the city not all have associations or clubs for teachers.
“Worse not even a fourth of these schools have faculty or employees union that protect their rights,” she said.
Dr. Amiscua, faculty club officer of the Holy Cross of Davao College during her speech also pointed that currently, there are no documents or laws that guarantee the protection of the rights and welfare of private school teachers.
“It is high time that teachers from private schools unite and push for the recognition, protection, and advancement of their rights and welfare,” said Reneboy Libot , Vice Chairperson for Private Schools of the KAMKEM-ACT Davao.
Libot added that forming associations and union help ensure the protection and advancement of the rights and welfare of every school employee, specially teachers.
Initial data gathered by the Private School Teachers Movement for the Magna Carta through a survey reveal that there are cases of teachers being terminated from teaching due to failure in evaluation.
“We have a case, where we found that one teacher did not actually fail evaluation, but ended up her contract with the school. Contractualization is a big problem among private school teachers,” Libot said.
The consultation, co-sponsored by the Kahugpungan sa mga Magtutudlo ug Kawani sa Edukasyon sa Mindanao– Alliance of Concerned Teachers (KAMKEM-ACT) Davao was attended by more than 30 representatives from faculty clubs and unions from private schools of the city.
Teachers came from various private schools including Ateneo Grade School, Holy Cross of Davao College, Holy Cross of Agdao, University of Immaculate Conception – Main and Annex Campus, Rizal Memorial Colleges, Thompson Christian School, Davao Wisdom Academy, Philippine Women’s College, and Assumption College of Davao.
For reference:
Mr. Reneboy Libot
ACT Teachers Davao
0935-977-6641
