Frequently Asked Questions

 

  1. When will we receive our salary this April? Will that include our clothing allowance and mid-year bonus? 
    Answer: DepEd CAR personnel salary and clothing allowance are already credited to  their ATM accounts according to reports from their respective Schools Division Offices (SDOs). The mid-year bonus, on the other hand, shall be received not earlier than May 15, 2020.
     
  2. Will this year's recognition day, moving-up, and graduation ceremonies still push through despite the extension of the Enhance Community Quarantine (ECQ)?
    Answer: Graduation, moving-up, and other end-of-school-year rites could no longer be pursued due to the ECQ so DepEd is reiterating the postponement of such rites. Later, if the situation would settle down, the school and parents could decide if they want to have the ceremonies. This is emphasized in DepEd Order No. 2, series 2020.
     
  3. Are substitute teachers in public schools under the no work, no pay scheme? With the suspension of classes, will a substitute teacher still receive in full his/her salary?
    Answer: Substitute Teachers will receive their salary in accordance with their approved appointments. Hence, there shall be no pay cuts due to class suspension given that his/her appointment is until the end of school year.
     
  4. Are school heads and teachers required to report to school despite the ECQ?
    Answer: NO, both teaching and non-teaching personnel, including Job Orders and contractuals are not required to report in school during the ECQ as per the Memorandum Circular released last March 16, 2020 putting the entire Luzon under Enhanced Community Quarantine. However, non-teaching personnel including the school heads are expected to continue to provide service through the Work From Home Scheme.
     
  5. Can teachers or non-teaching personnel of DepEd be included as beneficiaries of the DSWD's Social Amelioration Program?
    Answer: NO. All government employees, elected and appointed officials (regular, contractual, job order) in national, regional, provincial, city/municipal and barangay are NOT QUALIFIED to become a recipient of Emergency Subsidy as per Department of Social Welfare and Development guidelines (DSWD Memorandum Circular No. 4, series 2020).
     
  6. Can private schools also access or make use of the DepEd Commons?
    Answer: YES. Private schools aside from public schools and ALS students can now access the online platform at commons.deped.gov.ph.
     
  7. Relative to this ECQ and suspension of classes until May in some areas in the region, what will happen to the learners of private schools that have unfinished/finished 3rd grading examination and are supposed to end their school year this May? Will they be promoted to the next level?
    Answer: Definitely no promotion if no activities were done. Private schools have to comply with the K to 12 curriculum like the number of school days and others. They are advised to strategize/plan on their mode of learning delivery especially with regards to the completion of SY2019-2020
     
  8. Private schools will not have enough time to deploy their G12 students to different companies. Can they have their G12 students do Culminating Activities instead of work immersion?
    Answer:     Alternative ways of learning tantamount to Work Immersion like, (but not limited to) research work or projects related to their specialization may be done at home.
     
  9. How will be the Year-End review and evaluation of the RPMS Cycle for SY2019-2020 (IPCRF and OPCRF of school-based personnel) be handled?
    Answer:     Temporarily postponed as per advisory from Usec. Sevilla dated March 17, 2020. School Heads and teachers are advised to go on with the preparation and organization of MOVs for the different KRAs.
     
  10. Will DepEd pay RATA during quarantine since personnel has no attendance and is only working from home?
    Answer:     Payment of RATA presupposes actual rendition of services in line with official duties and the officials, working from home during the implementation of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) shall be construed as actual work performance as contemplated under 6.2 of the National Budget Circular No. 48 s. 2013 issued by the DBM. Official are still expected to render actaul work performance even during the ECQ, hence, must be entitled to RATA.
     
  11. Are medical professionals employed in DepEd also entitled to COVID-19 Special Risk Allowance (SRA)?
    Answer:     Pursuant to Administrative Order No. 28 dated April 6, 2020, entitled to COVD-19 SRA are those Public Health Workers who refer to: a) Medical, allied medical, and other necessary personnel assigned in hospitals and healthcare facilities; b) Who are directly catering to or in contact with COVID-19 patients, persons under investigation or persons under monitoring.
     
  12. What are the conditions on the grant of COVID-19 SRA?
    Answer: Personnel are entitled to receive COVID-19 Hazard Pay (section 2.b, of Administrative Order No. 26 dated March 23, 2020 should the following conditions are all met: a) The Public Health Worker provides critical and urgent services to respond to public health emergency during the implementation of ECQ; b) S/he is assigned to a hospital and other healthcare facilities; c) S/he physically reports for work at her/his assigned work station on the prescribed official working hours, as authorized by the head of agency/office during ECQ.
     
  13. Are Contracts of Services (COS), Consultants, and Job Orders (JO), entitled to receve COVID-19 Hazard Pay?
    Answer: YES. Administrative Order No. 26 dated March 23, 2020 authorizes the grant of COVID-19 Hazard Pay to government employees and workers engaged through COS or JO basis who physically report for work during the implementation of ECQ in their repective work stations, in an amount not exceeding P500/day per person.
     
  14. How much can a DepEd personnel receive as a COVID-19 Hazard Pay?
    Answer:     Based on Sec 4.1 of Budget Circular No. 2020-1, the COVID-19 Hazard Pay to be granted shall not exceed P500/day per person, which shall be computed as follows:  COVID-19 Hazard Pay = P500 x No. of days physically reporting for work during the quarantine period.
     
  15. Where do we charge the funds for the payment of Hazard Pay?
    Answer    : The Hazard Pay amount for personnel occupying regular, contractual or casual positions shall be charged against their availabe released Personnel Services (PS) allotments, while the amount for COS or JO workers shall be charged against available released Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) allotments, without need for prior authority from DBM, provided that all authorized mandatory expenses shall have been paid first. Should the department have insufficient PS or MOOE allotments, as the case may be, to fully cover the COVID-19 Hazard Pay at the rate of P500/day per person, a lower but uniform rate may be granted for all qualified personnel (Secs 5.1 to 5.2, Budget Circular No. 2020-1 dated March 24, 2020)
     
  16. Is DepEd going to pay the Special Hardship Allowance (SHA) based on existing guidelines?
    Answer    : The National Budget Circular No. 514, s. 2007 issued by the DBM (Guidelines on the Grant of Special Hardship Allowance) can be used to pay the SHA for FY2020 pending the issuance of the new gyuidelines based on hardship index. The adoption of NBC No. 514 as basis for payment of the SHA has been reiterated under DBM-DepEd Joint Circular No. 1, s. 2019: Guidelines to implement DepEd- Office of the Secretary (OSEC) Special Provision No. 7 in the FY 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA) on SHA. The new set of guidelines on the payment of SHA had already been forwarded by DepEd to DBM for their consideration. Pending the issuance of a new Join Circular for the payment of SHA, DepEd recommends to continue to adopt as reference NBC No. 514, s. 2007 in paying SHA.
     
  17. Are teachers required to check School Forms during the ECQ
    Answer    : As indicated in the Advisory from Usec Jesus Mateo dated March 17, 2020, all scheduled activities on actual face to face checking of School Forms are postponed until ECQ is lifted.  However, alternative means of checking will be applied like online, teleconferencing, and other means available in the area. Schools Division Office Information Technology Officers shall provide necessary remote technical support to allow teachers and supervisors to do the checking of School Forms. If all alternative means of checking is not possibe, postponement is recommended until ECQ is lifted.
     
  18. When would be the Mid-Year Bonus be paid?
    Answer    : Since the Mid-Year Bonus cannot be paid earlier than May 15 as stipulated in the General Appropriations Act (GAA), Offices are encouraged to prepare payroll so that come May 15, this may be released to eligible personnel.
     
  19. How would the remittance of March 2020 payroll deductions for loan payments to GSIS and lending institutions be treated?
    Answer    : All loan payments deducted from the salaries of DepEd personnel for the payroll month of March 2020 shall be remitted to all lending institutions, including the GSIS. This was the consensus during the meeting with Finance Officers. It was also agreed that DepEd will negotiate with GSIS the extension of the moratorium to another month or until June 2020.
     
  20. How about the the exclusion from the moratorium of those GSIS loan accounts declared in default for incurring more than six (6) unpaid monthly amortizations as of February 29, 2020?
    Answer    : While the negotiation with GSIS to grant DepEd borrowers a moratorium regardless of loan status is still pending, the DepEd will process the refund of their loan payments earlier deducted from their April 2020 salaries. Subsequently, DepEd will effect stoppage of the same deduction for May 2020. Schools Superintendents and School Heads are requested to advise their defaulting DepED borrowers  to settle unpaid amortization/s over-the-counter or online to avoid penalties and accrued interests.
     
  21. How about those who do not want to avail of the moratorium program?
    Answer: For those who do not intend to avail of the moratorium program, DepEd borrowers are not precluded from paying over-the-counter the loan amortization/s not deducted from their salary should they opt to settle the loan earlier. Dealing with individual accounts separately is a tedious and lengthy process and would delay the implementation of the grace period. Borrowers may opt to settle their loan/s to PLIs/GFIs in advance through over-the-counter payments.
     
  22. For Pag-ibig Loan/s, do I need to apply for a moratorium if I want to avail such for my loan?
    Answer: NO, you need not to apply to avail the program since DepEd will negotiate with Pag-IBIG. DepEd borrowers who would like to pay their loans however, are directed to settle and pay their loan amortizations OVER THE  COUNTER or ONLINE.
  23. What is the total number of school days for SY 2019-2020 for public schools?
    Answer:     As prescribed in DO 007 s. 2019, the total number of school days to be reflected in the School Form 9 (Learner's Progress Report Card) shall be 203. If the number of days present is being considered, then this may vary in each Schools Division Office depending on the suspension of classes before and during the announcement by the LGU on the onset of ECQ. Example, less suspension of classes and since suspension was done on March 12 for the ECQ, the days present is 187 days for SDO Baguio City but may vary per District again depending on earlier class suspensions. Further, there would be more number of days present in Schools Division Offices that rendered Saturday classes in exchange of class suspensions. Take note of the details of suspensions in terms of scope (Kindergarten suspension only/Kinder to Grade 1 suspension/elementary suspension/high school suspension). Hence, subtract the suspension. Therefore, number of school days present may vary.                                    Ref: Advisory from Usec Diosdado San Antonio March 20, 2020
     
  24. What will be the date of moving up/graduation that will be indicated in the certificate/diploma?
    Answer:     
    a) If graduation rites cannot be held, tha date shall be April 3, 2020                        
    b) If graduation rites are conducted between March 30 until April 17, indicate the actual date.
    Reference: Advisory, Office of the Usec for Curriculum and Instruction released March 20, 2020        
     
  25. Most private schools depend on school fees to pay salaries of teachers and staff. Can we still be allowed to collect learners' tuition fee balance?
    Answer:     Tution fees are supposed to be paid unless otherwise decided by the school adminstration. But during the ECQ, the school administration may prescribe modes of payment.
     
  26. What is the update on LIS, EBEIS and BEIS? Whom can we contact for concerns?
    Answer: "Updating of the End Of The school Year (EOSY) for 2019-2020 is ongoing. Deadline for schools to update the EOSY is until April 30, 2020. It is advised that school personnel observed ""safety first"" during updating and validating school forms. It can be postponed if teachers do not have the resources to update and validate in their residences. Stay at home, to stay safe.

    Contact details for Region and Division Office Planning and Research Divison/Unit are the following:  
    - Regional Office - pprd.depedcar@gmail.com
    - SDO Abra - abradpu@yahoo.com
    - SDO Apayao - deped_apayao@yahoo.com
    - SDO Baguio City - planresearchbaguio@gmail.com
    - SDO Benguet - planning_benguetdivision@yahoo.com
    - SDO Ifugao - margie.ngitit@deped.gov.ph
    - SDO Kalinga - kalinga@deped.gov.ph 
    - SDO Mt. Prov. - angelajhaz0981@gmail.com
    - SDO Tabuk City - efrenmpspc@gmail.com

  27. Will public school teachers report to school during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ)?
    Answer: NO. As per Pronouncement of Usec Alain del Pascua at Malacanang Press Briefing on March 16, 2020, teachers need not to report during the Enhanced Community Quarantine. Communication between the School Heads and teachers can be done online or through agreed means.

  28. Will repairs and other infrastructure projects in schools/Schools Division Offices be suspended?
    Answer: YES. Automatic suspension follows as supervisiors can not supervise the projects and workers are not exempted from ECQ.
     

  29. When will be the Opening of classes for SY 2020- 2021?
    Answer:     DepEd- Central Office says that  August 24, 2020 is the school opening with the  justification that date of opening of classes as enclosed under  Republic Act No. 7797 which states that classes are not to start earlier than the first Monday of June nor later than the last day of August. Secretary Briones said that the DepEd is looking at various contingency plans to ensure that education of our learners will continue.
     

  30. When does long vacation start? Are teachers required to continue working this vacation time? Why a lot of online activities for teachers? Are they not on vacation?
    Answer:     In its real sense, the long vacation has already started and was even earlier than scheduled due to the ECQ.  However, the scenario is that, teachers are being asked to develop LRs, join online seminars (Webinars, teleconferencing, etc.), answer survey questions, and so on.  These are the Department’s proactive measures in the event that the health situation in the country will not improve and the usual teaching-learning situation will not be possible. Whatever happens, education must continue.
     

  31. Is there summer classes for students who failed in two (2) subjects? Will students who failed in some subjects due to not submitting projects be given chance to make up classes?
    Answer:     There are no CO guidelines yet but there is verbal confirmation that definitely there will be remediation classes for these learners to help them cope so they would be ready for the next grade level. Schools that need this for their learners must coordinate with the SDOs and as pronounced by CO no face to face learning shall be conducted as of this time. Hence, schools to offer remediation may employ safe, equitable, and appropriate learning delivery modes.
     

  32. Should there be home school for SY 2020- 2021, how could we cater to learners who cannot be reached through media and who live far from school?
    Answer:     DepEd is looking into alternatives that will suit specific scenarios other than online learning such as the use of Modules, Radio-Based Instruction (RBI), blended learning, among others. And in preparation for these, teachers, school heads, CID and other concerned SDO personnel are instructed to develop and/or evaluate competency-based Learning Resources during the ECQ.
     

  33. Are we going to conduct the Balik Eskwela for School Year 2020- 2021 should home school be adopted?
    Answer    : The  Brigada  Eskwela  should  still  be  in  place but implementing guidelines are still to be released by the Central Office. Meanwhile, school  heads  and  other stakeholders must have contingency plans on how this program be implemented once our communities will go back to its normal state.
     

  34. Will internet load consumed by teachers and school heads this ECQ be refunded by their school MOOE?
    Answer    : School Heads may use school MOOE for teachers' loads but this has to be specified in the SIP/AIP.  The cash allowance given to teachers annually may be used to augment the internet load of teachers.
     

  35. Will Teachers/ school heads submit IPCR/ OPCR?
    Answer: Yes: All teachers and personnel will submit their IPCR/OPCR.  Central Office has updated RPMS tools including the electronic Individual Performance Commitment and Review Form (IPCRF) for SY 2019-2020. Make sure that your e-IPCRF file is up-to-date. This link may be accessed for the e-IPCRF : http://deped.in/IPCRFEncode20192020.
     

  36. Can teachers, school heads or other DepEd personnel volunteer  as frontliners?
    Answer    : OM-2020-004 provides guidance on the participation of DepEd Personnel in LGU activities relative to COVID 19. Specifically, it mentions that teaching and non-teaching personnel may participate in a voluntary and personal capacity subject to applicable laws and rules including the directives to address COVID-19.  This Memo also adds that participation of DepEd personnel should not prejudice work in the DepEd and should thus be consistent with alternative work-from-home and skeletal work force arrangements. In other words, in the case of non-teaching personnel, voluntary works are only allowed during weekends. In  addition,  a  written  request  must  be  submitted  and  approved  by  the  Schools  Division Superintendent prior to the voluntary work and closely coordinated with the Local Government Unit.  Please refer to RM 116, s. 2020-Participation of DepED CAR Personnel in LGU Activities in Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak .                                                             
    Reference: RM No. 116, s. 2020 
     

  37. Until when will the GSIS apply the moratorium on loans payment? What about Private Lending Institutions?
    Answer: According to OUF-2020-0130, DepEd has an ongoing negotiation with GSIS to extend the moratorium until June 2020 instead of May. But all loan payments already deducted for the month of March shall be remitted to GSIS and other lending institutions. DepEd will process the refund of loan payments already deducted in the month of April. So far, for Private Lending Institutions, it will only apply for the month of April and loan payments will resume once ECQ is lifted unless there will be a subsequent memo with regards to PLIs.