JINGGOY TO EMPLOYERS: ALLOW KASAMBAHAY TO STUDY

With days before the June opening of school year, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada is urging the employers to allow their household workers to study and secure academic diploma.

 

Sen. Estrada underscored that domestic workers, including nursemaid or yaya, cook, gardener, laundry person and general househelp, are guaranteed of the right to education and training under the recently-enacted Batas Kasambahay or Republic Act 10361.

 

Section 9 of Article II (Rights and Privileges) states that the “employer shall afford the domestic worker the opportunity to finish basic education and may allow access to alternative learning systems and as far as practicable, higher education or technical and vocational training.”

 

Moreover, “the employer shall adjust the work schedule of the domestic worker to allow such access to education or training without hampering the services required by the employer.”

 

Section 2, Article 4 of the Convention 189 (Convention Concerning Decent Work for Domestic Workers, which the Philippines has already ratified) also provides that “each Member shall take measures to ensure that work performed by domestic workers who are under the age of 18 and above the minimum age of employment does not deprive them of compulsory education, or interfere with opportunities to participate in further education or vocational training.”

 

Jinggoy appeals to the employers to not deprive kasambahays the opportunity to learn more and finish at least elementary and secondary education to widen their horizon and to uplift their standard of living.

 

Sen. Estrada, Chairman of the Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, also stressed that the said privilege is even more relevant to working children aged 15 to 17 employed as kasambahay.

 

“Let us not deprive our kasambahay the opportunity to enrol in schools and acquire new knowledge and skills as a step towards a more productive, high-paying career in the future,” Jinggoy says.

 

Under the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) issued and published by the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) last May 19, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) shall also facilitate access of kasambahay to efficient training, assessment and certification based on training regulations for household services to ensure productivity and assure quality of services.