Six-hour work day for teachers

We ask the Department of Education (DepEd) to come up with a policy to implement the proposed six-hour workday with uniformity.

Public schools will have its semestral break next week to give way to the school-based in-service trainings (INSET) of teachers. This is a very opportune time both for the teachers and the DepEd management to once and for all sit down, discuss the details of the policy and agree on its implementation by the second semester.

As early as 2008, the Civil Service Commission, in a resolution, ordered the DepEd to release guidelines on the “Six-Hour Workday” or the requirement for teachers to stay in their school for only six hours. The two hours intended to accomplish other tasks incidental to normal teaching duties may be brought home or anywhere the teacher wants.

However, the DepEd failed to implement the resolution. Until now, many teachers are forced to stay in their respective school for eight hours or more, even if there are no classes or official functions. This has been a perennial problem in most schools and has always been the reason for conflicts in schools between teachers and administrators.

While we recognize that some schools have their peculiarities, we believe that the default policy should be uniform and applicable to all schools and not just in Metro Manila or in areas where teachers are brave enough to engage the management in dialogues. (Benjo Basas, national chairperson, Teachers’ Dignity Coalition)