As government employees, DEPED teachers get all the benefits that come with being a public servant in the Philippines. In addition, DEPED teachers also get additional financial incentives and benefits that are unique to their nature of work. You may refer to the list below for the incentives and benefits of DEPED public school teachers in the Philippines:
*Please note that all the information below are accurate in the time of the writing of this content. The Department of Education may apply changes. Please refer to the latest Dep. Ed. Memos for the most up-to-date information.
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1. Basic Employment Benefits:
Phil. Health Membership – Health Insurance for hospitalization and annual physical exam
GSIS Benefits – Retirement and Life Insurance Plan (You contribute 9% of your basic pay, while the employer contributes an amount equal to 12% of your basic pay)
Vacation Credits – Upto 15 days in a year
Leave Privileges – Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave and Study Leave
2. Performance Based Bonus (Annual)
The Performance Based Bonus is annual incentive given to all government employees who have been assessed to have contributed to the accomplishments of the unit he or she belongs to. In the case of DepEd teachers, the unit is the school he or she belongs to.
How can you receive the PBB?
To receive PBB, the teacher must be serving at least 4 months as a teacher in the Department of Education at the time of the assessment. The Department as a whole must meet all the “Good Governance Indicators” as stated in the Performance-Based Incentive System (PBIS).
PBB/PBIS Performance Grouping
The value of the contribution of DepEd teachers is then assessed by their superiors to determine if they are part of the “Good Performer”, “Better Performer” or “Best Performer” Group. All three groups get their share of the PBB based on their performance. A fourth group, the “Poor Performers” will not receive any incentive under this program. You may refer to the matrix below for the amount that you will receive based on your performance:
Using the table above, if your performance rating is included in the top 10% in your unit, this puts you among the best performers. If your unit is within the top 10% of all the units in your agency, you will get 35,000 pesos for your PBB. However, even if your unit is performing well but you were tagged as a poor performer, you may not get a PBB.
3. Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI)
In addition to the PBB, DEPED teachers may also receive their annual PEI. Contrary to some sources online, the PEI amount is not fixed. Instead, the amount depends on the level of savings incurred and authorized by the national government to fund the PEI. This means that the amount you receive will vary depending on these factors.
4. Personnel Economic Relief Allowance (PERA – Annual)
This is another allowance given to all government employees to augment their take-home pay for the rising cost of living in the country. The bonus amounts to P2,000 pesos per month regardless of rank or performance. This totals to 24,000 pesos per year given to all teachers.
There are talks to increase the amount of PERA. However, the laws for these proposals have not been passed yet.
5. Mid-year and Year-end Bonuses + Cash Gift
Regular DEPED Teachers are also entitled to receive two bonuses every year to add to their basic teacher’s pay. This includes:
Mid-Year Bonus
- How Much: 1-month Salary
- When: Released in May
Year-End Bonus
- How Much: 1-month Salary (Please refer to your DEPED teacher’s salary grade)
- When: Released in November
Cash Gift
Also in November, teachers may be entitled to an annual cash gift amounting to 5,000 pesos.
6. Clothing Allowance
DepEd teachers are required to wear the standard department uniform as mandated Department of Education. To pay for the uniform, DepEd teachers are given 6,000 pesos every year which comes in the summer break.
7. Teaching Supplies Allowance (Chalk Allowance)
Aside from uniforms, teachers also need to pay for the supplies that they use for class. They are compensated for this through the Chalk Allowance, formally named as the Teaching Supplies Allowance. The amount may change annually but for 2021, the amount is 5,000 pesos given out at around the start of the school year.
8. Special Hardship Allowance (SHA = 25% of Basic Pay)
This is given to teachers who are assigned to hardship posts and is equalt to 25% of the teacher’s basic pay. Hardship posts, according to the Department of Budget Maintenance, refer to assignments in areas characterized by extremely hard, uncomfortable, and extreme difficulties.
The eligibility of a location as a hardship post is determined by a 0 to 1 index called the Hardship Index. The higher the index score of a location, the higher its degree of difficulty (hardship). The index is affected by the following factors:
- Time of travel between school and division office
- Human violence
- Availability of temporary learning spaces
- Level of poverty
- Access to basic amenities
Who can apply:
All teachers who are assigned to hardship posts are eligible to apply for this the Special Hardship Allowance including:
- All teachers and school heads in hardships posts
- Multi-grade teachers in pure multi-grade schools
- Mobile teachers,
- Non-Formal Education Coordinators
- Alternative Learning System (ALS) coordinators concurrently handling ALS classes
9. Long Term Incentives
Loyalty Cash Incentive
This is given to any permanent teacher or non-teaching employee who has served in the Department for at least 10 years and has a minimum of satisfactory rating in all of those years. A teacher may receive 10,000 pesos in his or her first 10 years and 5,000 pesos every five years after that if eligible.
To be eligible, they must not incur more than 50 days of cumulative authorized vacation leaves without pay in the first ten years. For the succeeding five years, they must not use more than 25 authorized vacation leaves without pay.
Step Increment (Salary Increase)
Aside from the loyalty cash bonus discussed above, a DepEd teacher may also be eligible for the Step Increment. This is an increase in the salary of the teacher within his or her salary grade. This step increment salary increase is given out to employees who receive a minimum of satisfactory rating for three consecutive years.
For more information, please refer to this DBM circular on the step increment system.
10. Proportional Vacation Pay (PVP)
The Proportional Vacation Pay refers to the amount received by the teacher during school breaks (April, May, and December). The amount that a teacher receives in these break period depends on how many absences they may have incurred in the school year. If a teacher did not use any leave credit for the entire school year, he or she will get the full for break periods. The number of days paid by PVP is usually 70 days per year. However, this may change according to the length of school breaks for the particular year.
Absences during the school year will affect your vacation pay. If a teacher is absent for one day, a proportionate amount of money will be deducted from their PVP. To make the computation easier, teachers often use the 3:1 proportion of absences to pay days. For every 3 absences in the school year, an equivalent of one day’s pay will be deducted from the PVP.
11. Mobile Teachers and District Alternative Learning Coordinators (DALC)
We’ve already talked about additional bonuses for Mobile Teachers and DALCs in the section about Special Hardship Allowance (SHA) above. In addition to a possible eligibility for the SHA, mobile teachers and DALCs may also get the following additional allowances:
- Travel Allowance = 2,000 pesos per month
- Instructional Allowance = 5,000 pesos per School Year for ALS Supplies