Rethinking teachers’ salary

The call to raise the entry-level salary of public school teachers to P50,000 has grown into a resounding demand. It is not only about the amount; it is about dignity, recognition, and the urgent need to invest in the people who shape the nation’s future.

Most of the neighboring countries pay higher salaries to their teachers. While teachers are paid less in this country, the cost of living is higher. Teachers have families to feed to survive and to thrive. Our teachers are professionals, and they deserve to be paid as professionals.

The value of investing in preservice training and education is undermined when teachers struggle to secure a dignified standard of living.

When teachers teach, they are not only utilizing their undergraduate education and training. Every lesson is orchestrated by years of ongoing professional training and experience. What a teacher learned in his or her earlier years in service and what he or she has developed through the years are contributing factors to the planning and delivery of every lesson.

Like other professions, they are supposed to be compensated not only based on a day’s performance but because every performance of duty is based on a lengthy human resource investment. Teachers renew their license every three years, and part of the requirement is continuous professional development. As human resource, teachers’ human capital value increases every school year.

It is high time that we avoid shortchanging our teachers because they are not complaining or because they just accept whatever amount they get. If we watched the documentary about teachers saddled with loans, it is clear that teachers have necessities especially in supporting their families. The salary they receive are not enough to feed their family, send their children to school, and survive. Imagine teachers doing side hustles to earn extra income.

Some politicians would not be able to live their luxurious lives if they were paid as much as teachers’ salaries, instead of their six-digit monthly incomes. Surely, they cannot send their children to exclusive schools, get health care in prestigious hospitals, travel abroad, or simply eat in fine dining restaurants. If they were challenged to live a day like a teacher, they would see that teachers are human beings with human needs.

Teachers do not charge the government for additional students in class, working with limited resources, and even using their personal means. In short, they give so much than what they receive.

The government is saving millions for employing public school teachers because teachers are doing activities that are supposed to be accomplished by other government offices. The Second Congressional Commission on Education has already reported this. According to Section 14 of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, “The agencies utilizing the services of teachers shall pay the additional compensation required under this section.” Although teachers get compensation for some activities, they do not get for all others.

When teachers serve as resource speaker, they do it for free. There are occasions that even the food will be at their own expense. In private companies, the owner will invest for speakers, food, and venue. The service teachers render does not only cover the time they speak, but the entire professional and personal resource that they generously share.

Some teachers act as emcees and event planners, and if we check the rate of these services, we know that the rate is not cheap. But teachers are doing it pro bono or as “thank you” service but we know that these skills earn extra pay. On the other hand, teachers in private institutions receive additional pay for having postgraduate units or degree or for conducting an action research. Unfortunately, the pace of teachers’ promotion continues to be sluggish.

Since there is a scarcity of guidance counselors, teachers act as life coaches to students. Counseling services may charge remuneration since some amount of time was devoted to listening to clients and providing professional advice to students and even to colleagues.

We are not asking for teachers to be compensated for every single service they provide; rather, it is the accumulation of all these responsibilities that forms a compelling case for raising their salaries. It is time to stop glorifying teachers’ resilience, sacrifice, and monumental contributions, and instead begin compensating them with the pay they rightfully deserve.

Above all, teachers are not just performing miracles within the education system—they are the backbone of every reform. Without their dedication, no policy, no program, and no vision for progress can ever succeed.

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Khristian Ross P. Pimentel graduated from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Laboratory High School, from the Philippine Normal University, and from the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he is also finishing his Ph.D. He is a public school teacher.

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