By Ina Hernando Malipot
No new designs for uniforms this coming school year.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones has announced that there will be no new designs for teachers and other school personnel when classes in public schools open in June.
Briones, in DepEd Memorandum No. 63, Series of 2018, issued to all undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, bureau and service directors, regional directors, schools division superintendents, and heads of public elementary and secondary schools, said that the national uniforms for teaching and non-teaching personnel for School Year 2018-2019 “shall remain the same as that of SY 2016-2017.”
The Department of Budget and Management, Briones said, has issued Budget Circular No. 2018-1 or the “Rules and Regulations on the Grant of Uniform/Clothing Allowance (U/CA) to Civilian Government Personnel” last March 8.
Briones said that “the annual clothing and uniform allowance in the amount of P6,000 shall be released to all personnel” subject to existing accounting and auditing rules and regulations upon the release if the Notice of Cash Allocation from the DBM.
The prescribed uniform designs, Briones said, are stipulated in DepEd Memorandum No. 84, Series of 2016, or the “Additional Guidelines on the DepEd National Uniforms for Teaching and Non-Teaching Personnel.”
Teachers groups Alliance of Concerned Teachers and Teachers’ Dignity Coalition welcomed the announcement from DepEd.
TDC National Chairperson Benjo Basas said that the directive is needed as some groups have been pushing for regional and division uniforms in the past. However, the group lamented that the R6,000 clothing allowance may not be enough.
“(It) should at least be P10,000 since it will also include other expenses such as shoes, etc.,” he 02said.
