Filipino teachers are highly esteemed abroad and are paid up to 10 times their salaries here. To curb this trend, bills have been filed in Congress seeking to upgrade the salary rates of teachers. However, the proposed rates still pale in comparison with the salary offers overseas.

House Bill No. 800 or the “Act Upgrading the Minimum Salary Grade Level of Public School Teachers in the Elementary And Secondary Levels from Grade 10 to 15" is geared towards providing public school teachers a much-needed wage hike. “Our teachers are not accorded due recognition and importance they deserve, their salaries are insultingly low and with the high cost of living today, it is no wonder that the best and brightest among them are now teaching abroad, or worse, have migrated to work as caregivers or domestic helpers," said Caloocan City Rep. Mary Mitzi L. Cajayon, author of HB 800 at the House of Representatives. A similar bill is introduced at the Senate by Senator Edgardo Angara but with a bigger adjustment of salary rates from Grade 10 to 19. A public school teacher under a Salary Grade 10 receives a gross pay of P9,939 a (about $200) month. A Salary Grade 15 teacher gets P12, 546 a month and a Salary Grade 19 teacher is entitled to a monthly salary of P16,792.