Teachers in the Philippines maintain a moral obligation to become mentors because they build the future of their students while maintaining community cohesion and providing essential social support to children. The economic aspects of teaching create a different reality than the moral significance of the profession. The minimum salary for a new public school Teacher position reaches ₱28,512 per month in January 2024 although this amount fails to match the actual needs of teaching responsibilities and available alternatives for graduates who wish to work in private industries or abroad. Thousands have abandoned their classroom duties leading to educational deficits which affect student learning outcomes and disrupt family relationships.
The financial discrepancy exists beyond philosophical differences. Recent graduates evaluate the combination of extended hours and numerous responsibilities in their classrooms together with their personal expenses against what their degree could earn in different settings. The additional earnings from teaching come from two sources: tutoring students and running small business ventures. Teachers use modern financial tools such as a forex trading app which offers a convenient way to generate secondary income. Teachers actively work to manage their finances without quitting their beloved profession. A better salary relationship between the job’s worth and educational compensation would decrease the need for educators to find additional income streams because their basic pay would suffice.
The consequences become observable. Teacher numbers decreased between 2022 and 2023 while labor organizations predict thousands of teacher vacancies. Teachers experience large class sizes together with substitute teacher rotations and limited school resources. The government identified 60,000 teaching positions as vacancies for the year 2024. The 2025 budget introduced new positions, but these efforts have not addressed the immediate hiring needs seen on the ground. Local officials maintain their warning about under-staffed educational institutions which particularly affect rural school districts.
Salaries represent one aspect of teacher compensation because workload stands as the other essential factor. Teachers maintain that their teaching hours are reduced because they must perform paperwork and administrative duties as well as handle additional responsibilities. The 2024 introduction of new workload rules established that teachers must teach six hours per day while dedicating two hours to supplementary duties to bring back predictability in the classroom. The education sector implemented two major initiatives which reduced paperwork by more than half while adding thousands of administrative staff members to enable teachers to concentrate on teaching duties instead of administrative work. The proposed reforms receive approval, yet numerous stakeholders wonder if they can address the situation without raising teacher salaries.
The way teachers can afford to maintain themselves plays a role in their ability to stay with the profession. The decrease in inflation during 2024 did not improve the purchasing power of teacher salaries because their wages remain insufficient for basic needs. Monthly income faces significant reduction because of ongoing expenses for rent, electricity and food. The expenses of renting or supporting extended family members create financial struggles for new teachers who must pay for school supplies from their own pockets.
The classroom environment itself adds pressure. The existing budget shortage leads to a combination of extended work hours and excessive student enrollment and the use of temporary teaching locations. The stressful conditions make it harder for teachers to provide effective student engagement because they need to dedicate more time to logistical management. Teaching duties require extensive improvisation from educators who face technology issues and heat waves and natural disasters while the salary structure fails to reflect this reality. Most experienced educators make the choice to move abroad because compensation and working conditions promise better stability in their future.
The government has started to raise salaries but at a slow pace. The updated salary framework under Executive Order No. 64 started implementation in 2024 and will operate until 2027. A Teacher I at Step 1 receives an official starting salary of ₱28,512 under the updated framework before experiencing future salary increases. The proposal to increase starting teacher pay to ₱50,000 has been reintroduced by lawmakers who believe the current scale does not match the critical role of teachers. Such a payment amount would help combat teacher departure while demonstrating the important role teachers play in nation-building.
Another way to solve workload problems exists through policy changes. The practical implementation of school-based administrative staff hiring stands as a direct solution. The elimination of clerical tasks enables teachers to receive value recognition and concentrate on their students’ education even though immediate pay increases seem impossible. When schools reduce administrative tasks alongside the establishment of specific teaching hours it indicates they respect teachers’ time commitment. The acknowledgement teachers receive holds similar importance to their monetary compensation for many employees.
The success of these adjustments to address attrition depends on how each teacher calculates their situation. The persistence of attrition will continue because education degrees bring less lifetime financial reward than other professions and the early years of teaching create financial instability. Digital proficiency combined with mobility forces teachers to make their exit decisions because financial constraints make staying impossible. Public institutions in local areas must provide housing support together with transportation benefits and wellness initiatives to their employees. Higher education institutions along with DepEd must enhance their mentorship programs and develop career advancement opportunities so new teachers can envision professional growth instead of career plateaus.
The immediate effects of teacher shortages appear directly to parents together with their children. Teacher shortages force students into bigger classes while reducing subject choices along with shortening available time for pandemic-related learning recovery. The community responds through parent organization funding initiatives combined with municipal facility repairs and non-governmental organization resource donations. These emergency solutions fail to resolve the fundamental issue at hand. The process of paying educators according to their role’s importance serves as the key mechanism to maintain top educators in critical positions.
