23,000 DepEd employees did not receive retirement pay due to loans

More than 23,000 personnel of the Department of Education (DepEd) were not able to reap the benefits of their retirement due to accumulated, unpaid loans, the agency said Monday.

"More than 23,000 have retired without receiving a single centavo of their gratuity because even these are not enough to pay for the loans they have accumulated," DepEd Undersecretary Victoria M. Catibog said in an emailed statement.

"We'de like to change the mindset of teachers and personnel when it comes to handling and managing their finances," she added.

The DepEd said it is introducing policy and operational improvements such as the enhancement of its Automatic Payroll Deduction System (APDS) Program.

According to the latest data available, outstanding loan receivables of APDS-accredited private lending institutions (PLIs) amounted to P170.96 billion as of December 31, 2016.

With this, the DepEd is now in talks with several PLIs to extend their other services on financial literacy to both teaching and non-teaching personnel.

"We must equip our teaching and non-teaching personnel as well so that they may truly reap the fruits of their hard labor even before retirement," Education Secretary Leonor M. Briones said.

"It's not only the learners that we aim to prepare with financial education through its integration in the K to 12 curriculum, and the implementation of financial literacy programs," she added. —ALG/KVD, GMA News