The Senate on Monday, November 9, passed on 3rd and final reading a bill that would raise public school teachers’ supplies allowance to a yearly P5,000 in 2021, and eventually to P10,000.

The so-called “chalk allowance” of public school teachers is currently P3,500 a year, or P16 per school day.

Senators voted unanimously to approve Senate Bill No. 1092, or the Teaching Supplies Allowance Act of 2020. It raises the yearly “chalk allowance” to P5,000 in school years 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, and then to P7,500 in school year 2023-2024, and finally to P10,000 starting in school year 2024-2025.

If signed into law, the measure would benefit more than 800,000 public school teachers across the country.

“This measure recognizes the hardships, sacrifices, and invaluable contributions of our teachers to our society…. We are a step closer to realizing a better working environment for our teachers,” said Senator Bong Revilla, author and sponsor of the bill.

“However, fully cognizant of the tremendous demands of this profession, we still have a lot of things that need to be done to uplift and improve the welfare of our teachers,” he added.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, co-author of the proposed measure, had introduced the amendment to make the increase in the supplies allowance gradual, spread out over a few years, to make it feasible for the government.

Senator Sonny Angara, head of the Senate committee on finance and co-author of the measure, said the allocation for the increased allowance for teachers will already be included in the proposed 2021 national budget even if the bill’s counterpart at the House of Representatives is still pending.

The passage of the bill’s House counterpart and concurrence by the President are necessary to enact it into law.

Besides Revilla, Drilon, and Angara, co-authors of the Senate bill are senators Ralph Recto, Sherwin Gatchalian, Pia Cayetano, Manny Pacquiao, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Joel Villaueva, Cynthia Villar, Nancy Binay, Francis Pangilinan, Richard Gordon, and Risa Hontiveros. – Rappler.com