Faster hiring of teachers needed

A PHILIPPINE senator urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to speed up its hiring process for educators to address the country’s need to fill 26,000 positions next year amid a teacher shortage.

In a statement, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian said DepEd can take up to six months to hire new teachers, with the country lacking more than 46,000 teachers to service 43,000 schools nationwide.

DepEd earlier said it is looking to create 20,000 new teaching positions next year to work on this shortage.

“The number of teachers we need continues to grow with our student population, and filling the 26,000 vacant positions would help address the teacher shortage,” the senator said.

DepEd is keen on using artificial intelligence-based education platforms to compensate for the shortage of teachers among other resources gaps next year, Education Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” M. Angara told a Senate finance committee hearing last week.

Mr. Gatchalian also cited the need for more administrative officers at the Education department to lighten the nonteaching workload of public school teachers.

Under the agency’s proposed P793.177-billion budget next year, P3.43 billion will be used to hire employees for nonteaching positions.

Based on a report from the Second Congressional Commission on Education, each public school teacher has to deal with at least 50 administrative tasks. — John Victor D. Ordoñez