Public school teachers will now benefit from doubled vacation service credits (VSCs), the Department of Education (DepEd) said Friday.

This came after DepEd Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara signed DepEd Order No. 13 series of 2024 increasing VSCs from 15 to 30 days.

“The revised order now entitles incumbent teachers with at least one year of service, as well as newly hired teachers appointed within four months after the start of classes, to 30 days of VSCs annually. Additionally, newly hired teachers whose appointments are issued four months after the start of classes will receive 45 days of VSCs per year,” the DepEd said in a statement.

According to the DepEd, VSCs are leave credits earned by public school teachers for services rendered during summer or long vacation, Christmas vacation, weekends, and holidays, as well as for teaching overload.

Under the new guidelines, teachers are allowed to “offset absences due to sickness or personal reasons or to recover salary deductions during vacation periods.”

For regular school days’ overtime service credits, teachers earn 1.25 hours of VSC per hour of eligible service rendered; and 1.5 hours of VSC per hour of rendered service during weekends, Christmas, and other holidays, as well as summer breaks.

“In cases where teaching overload is not compensated through overload pay, teachers will be credited with 1.25 hours of VSC for every hour of additional teaching, on top of their 30-day entitlement,” the DepEd said.

The new guideline also covers ancillary tasks or additional teaching-related tasks beyond working hours which include training during weekends or holidays, remedial or enhancement classes, election-related duties, parent-teacher conferences and home visits.

Its procedure will be streamlined, with the approval coming from the authorized Schools Division Superintendent or another designated authority. (PNA)