BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved a resolution requesting the Cordillera office of the Department of Education (DepEd-CAR) through the City Schools Division to come up with a health insurance and wellness plan for teachers which they may use or avail during hospitalization, accidents, critical illnesses among others that affect their performance in schools.
The resolution authored by Vice Mayor Edison R. Bilog stated that the teachers are an extremely important facet of the society for a number of reasons and their role in the community is both significant and valuable for they play an extraordinary part in the lives of the children, especially in their formative years of development, and that the importance of teachers can be said that is something that cannot be understated.
The resolution added that the local government has always been supportive to the plight of the teachers teaching in the different public schools located around the city.
Recently, the local legislative body passed Resolution No. 206, series of 2018 which expressed full support of the local government to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s plan of increasing the salaries of public school teachers and principals all over the country.
While the salaries and other emoluments are already due to the teachers, the resolution noted there is a need to look into ways on how the local government and the education department could assist the teachers, especially in cases of hospitalization, accidents, critical illnesses among others, wherein teachers have no other means of assistance aside from their own earnings and that being extended by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation in terms of hospital bills and professional fees.
The resolution suggested that the regional office of the education department can formulate a health insurance and wellness plan where the teachers may invest on to ensure that they would likewise receive the necessary benefits when hospitalized or to cover hospital expenses or when having or diagnosed with critical illnesses.
The resolution stipulated that the health insurance and wellness plan that will be developed can serve as a source of additional health benefits for the teachers serving in public schools when they suffer from illnesses that could significantly affect their productivity and might compromise the state of their profession, thus, the need for them to be provided with appropriate diagnosis by health experts for them to recover and bring back the vibrance of their teaching in the schools.
The resolution asserted the dire need of helping the teachers ensure that they are in good health condition when teaching the pupils and their students so that they will be able to be effective and efficient mentors to the children in the public schools who want to learn their lessons.
Teaching is one of the noble professions in the society because of the condition that teachers serve as the second parents to the children, thus, the need for them to be healthy at all times for them to be able to perform their jobs pursuant to the standards imposed by the education department.
The resolution will be transmitted by the local legislative body to the regional office of the education department for study and appropriate action.
By Dexter A. See