DepEd recently released the guidelines for reimbursing teachers’ communication expenses, which covers telephone and Internet costs incurred under the work from home arrangements.
“This is a result of the collective action and demands of our teachers and education support personnel and the help of our lobbying in the meetings with the Department of Education in Congress. Though short of the initial demand for the P1,500 internet allowance that we proposed, this is still an initial gain for our education frontliners,” said Castro, a member of the Makabayan bloc.
Distance-learning methods such as online classes have become the norm in the current COVID-19 pandemic. This entails Internet and mobile data costs, and teachers in the public school system have usually been forced to hack it out on their own.