CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro (PIA) — Over ₱335 million worth of hardship allowance was allocated to 6,697 teachers and school heads in the MIMAROPA region for the year 2024.
During the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) on October 15, the Department of Education (DepEd)-MIMAROPA, in its presentation, cited that the hardship allowance is given monthly to teachers in elementary and secondary schools and school heads or administrators exposed to extreme difficulties and hazards, such as difficulty in commuting to the place of work.
Out of the 6,697, the DepEd identified 5,930 recipients in Palawan province, 589 in Oriental Mindoro, 154 in Marinduque, and 24 in Puerto Princesa City.
In an interview with PIA Oriental Mindoro, DepEd MIMAROPA Information Officer She Laquindanum clarified that they are still waiting for the final listing to be released by the schools’ division in the City of Calapan and the provinces of Occidental Mindoro and Romblon.
According to the DepEd and Department of Budget and Management Joint Circular No. 01, s. 2021, the following DepEd personnel are qualified to receive the hardship allowance, namely, all teachers in elementary and secondary schools located in hardship posts as determined through the Hardship Index; multi-grade teachers in pure multi-grade schools; mobile teachers and non-formal education or Alternative Learning System (ALS) coordinators concurrently handling ALS classes; and school heads assigned in hardship posts or pure multi-grade schools.
In a presentation during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas, DepEd MIMAROPA also said that the Hardship Index refers to any number from 0 to 1 representing the degree of hardship of a particular school combining all the variables identified as hardship factors such as time and cost of transportation from school to schools division office (SDO), human violence, availability of temporary learning spaces, level of poverty, and access to basic amenities like telecommunication, water, and electricity services, etc.
“The closer the value of the index to 1, the higher the degree of difficulty of the school situation,” it added. (AS/PIA MIMAROPA)
