The Department of Education (DepEd) announced that is close to complete 61,510 new teaching positions for 2013. As of July 12, 56,0850 (91%) new teachers have been hired while the remaining 5,425 have been identified and are being processed for appointment.
DepEd said that of the new hires, 11,022 (20%) come from the ranks of the qualified local government-funded or volunteer teachers.
“Before the new system, it took some 8-9 months, even up to a year, for appointments to get processed,” Assistant Secretary of Education for Planning Jesus Mateo said. “Now some appointments have been processed in just three months.”
DepEd said that of the new hires, 11,022 (20%) come from the ranks of the qualified local government-funded or volunteer teachers.
“Before the new system, it took some 8-9 months, even up to a year, for appointments to get processed,” Assistant Secretary of Education for Planning Jesus Mateo said. “Now some appointments have been processed in just three months.”
Mateo also added that some of the remaining 9% awaiting their appointment may already be teaching under a contractual basis. “While waiting for their papers, they may be asked to start work already. If, for some reason, their appointments are denied, they will still be paid for the work rendered.”
“We have to remember these are permanent positions, we can’t just give them away,” said Mateo, adding that they have to balance speed of hiring with a thorough assessment of qualifications. “Whether fresh graduates or veteran contractual, what’s important is we hire the most qualified teachers for our schools.”
The need to hire more teachers is line with the change in Education system in the country. The K to 12 system requires more teachers for the added 2 years in secondary education. The Law under RA 10533 was implemented last year.
As part of the promotion of Philippine education, the 2013 Philippine education budget is up by 22.6 percent to P292.7 billion from P238.8 billion last year.
President Aquino said the increase is meant to eliminate all resource gaps in the classrooms, teachers, textbooks, and other facilities by next year.
"We also aim to fully cover the shortfall in quality public school teachers by allocating P13.4 billion for the creation of 61,510 teaching positions to include the regularization of 7,967 kindergarten volunteer teachers," he added.
