Table of Contents

Legal Basis and Purpose

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Department of Education (DepEd) jointly issued DBM-DEPED Joint Circular No. 1, series of 2021 to update the guidelines on the grant of Special Hardship Allowance (SHA) and ensure consistency with the provisions of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, as well as responsiveness to the challenges of teachers in the field.

The DepEd and DBM will be issuing the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of this Joint Circular.

What is a Special Hardship Allowance?

Special Hardship Allowance refers to additional compensation generally paid to teachers who are exposed to hazards and difficulties because of the nature and/or location of their work.

How much is the Special Hardship Allowance of Teachers and School Heads?

The Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (Republic Act. No. 4670) provides for a special hardship allowance (SHA) to teachers in areas where they are exposed to hardship. The SHA is determined by the Secretary of Education which is equivalent to at least 25% of the teachers’ and school heads’ monthly salary.

However, the aggregate amount of the SHA to be given to qualified DepEd personnel at any given month shall not exceed twenty-five percent (25%) of their basic monthly salary.

Who are entitled to the Special Hardship Allowance?

The following DepEd personnel are qualified to receive the Special Hardship Allowance:

1. All teachers in elementary and secondary schools located in hardship posts as determined through the Hardship Index;

Hardship Post – refers to a workstation (Public School/Community Learning Center) located in an area characterized by extraordinarily hard, uncomfortable, and extreme difficulties based on the hardship factors measured by the Hardship Index.

Hardship Index (HI) – refers to any number from 0 to 1 representing the degree of hardship of a particular school combining all the variables identified as hardship factors: time and cost of transportation from school to Schools Division Office (SDO), human violence, availability of temporary learning spaces, level of poverty, and access to basic amenities (e.g. telecommunication, water, and electricity services, etc.). The closer the value of the index to 1, the higher the degree of difficulty of the school situation.

The DepEd shall compute the Hardship Index (HI) every three (3) years beginning FY 2021 and shall use the latest available data in the said computation.
Notwithstanding, this Index may be updated before the end of the validity period subject to agreement between the DepEd and the DBM.

2. Multi-grade teachers in pure multi-grade schools;

Multi-Grade (MG) Teacher – refers to a teacher handling a combined class of two or more grade levels.

Pure Multi-Grade School – refers to a school that solely offers combined classes of two or more grade levels except for Kindergarten.

3. Mobile teachers, and Non-Formal Education or Alternative Learning System (ALS) coordinators concurrently handling ALS classes; and

Alternative Learning System (ALS) – refers to a parallel learning system that is a viable alternative to the existing formal education instruction. It encompasses both the non-formal and informal sources and delivery of knowledge and skills.

ALS Mobile Teacher – refers to a specialized teacher conducting learning sessions using the alternative learning delivery mode whose duties require movement from one station to another in depressed, disadvantaged, and underserved communities.

4. School heads assigned in hardship posts or pure multi-grade schools.

Who are teachers and school heads?

A teacher is a person engaged in classroom teaching, in any level of instruction, on full-time basis, including guidance counselors, school librarians, industrial arts or vocational instructors, and all other persons performing supervisory and/or administrative functions in all schools; but shall not include school nurses, school physicians, school dentists, and other school employees.

On the other hand, a school head is a person responsible for the administrative and instructional supervision of the school or cluster of schools.