Gatchalian to DepEd: Fill up thousands of vacant teaching positions

While the Department of Education (DepEd) is seeking an additional P2.58 billion in 2022 to hire 10,000 teachers, more than 30,000 teaching positions are yet to be filled as of September this year, Senator Win Gatchalian said on Tuesday.

The chair of the Senate basic education committee said this should push the DepEd to accelerate its hiring process and fill the remaining vacancies.

Based on the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department’s (CPBRD) agency notes for DepEd’s 2022 budget, 71 percent of DepEd’s 46,901 total unfilled positions refer to unfilled teaching positions. This is equivalent to 33,260 unfilled teaching positions and 16,460 or almost half of which are for Teacher I positions.

DepEd officials explained that the hiring process usually involves six months and involves the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Civil Service Commission (CSC). Because of Covid-19 restrictions and the imposition of an alternative work arrangement, the agency also had to work on the hiring process with a limited number of staff.

“The positions left unfilled could equate to P13 billion in funds that are not being disbursed. This had been a recurring issue,” Gatchalian said.

“I remember some senators, including myself, flagged this also last year and the year before that. We have to, once for all, find ways to reduce the six-month turn-around time somehow,” he said in a Senate panel hearing on the proposed budget of DepEd and its attached agencies.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)