DepEd to hire 23,000 teachers affected by K-12 program

MANILA, Philippines - The 23,000 professors who will lose their jobs as a result of the implementation of K-12 program will be prioritized by the government in hiring faculty members for the senior high school program, Malacañang said yesterday.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the government considered the employment concerns of professors when President Aquino signed into law Republic Act 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, which provides for the implementation of the K-12 program.

K-12 adds two more years in secondary education by adopting a senior high school program. When the program takes effect in June 2016, high school students will not proceed to college but will enroll in Grade 11 and in Grade 12 the following year. There will be no first year college students for two years, which means loss of jobs for thousands of professors.

But Coloma made assurance that the Cabinet education cluster composed of the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) are jointly addressing concerns about joblessness.

 “DepEd will be hiring around 30,000 and we will be prepared to prioritize those who choose to apply to our senior high school program,” Coloma said.