DepEd urged to address staffing shortages to deload teachers of admin tasks

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education’s recent order removing administrative tasks from teachers has spurred concerns among schools grappling with staffing shortages, with education personnel raising questions about the feasibility of transferring all administrative duties within the mandated 60-day timeframe. 

During the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2)’s meeting on Thursday, educators from different schools in Luzon explained that while lightening teachers’ workload is an urgent need, there are not enough non-teaching personnel to deload them of administrative duties and hiring more personnel is not a guarantee in all districts.

DepEd Order No. 2, s. 2004, issued on January 26, transfers all administrative tasks from teachers to school heads and non-teaching personnel. School division offices (SDOs) are required to relieve teachers' of administrative tasks within a transitory period of 60 days.

One teacher from Metro Manila whom EDCOM introduced as “Teacher Julie” told lawmakers and DepEd officials that there is only one administrative officer (AO) in her school, which has a population of more than 2,300 students (as of SY 2022-2023).

Julie said that while non-teaching tasks are divided among teachers and the administrative officer, some of the more time-consuming tasks handled by teachers are in relation to registrar duties, DepEd’s feeding program, guidance and counseling, managing the canteen, among others. 

“We know the memo is good-intentioned but our question as people on the field is: Who’s going to take over the work?” Julie asked in a mix of English and Filipino, adding that the school head and the lone administrative officer cannot take on all the work.

A school principal based in Region 4A who handles a small school with just over 200 students raised the same need for DepEd to hire more administrative staff.

Overwhelmed by administrative burdens even before the DepEd order, she stressed that it is impractical to expect her to shoulder everything to comply with the DepEd order, given that their school does not have administrative staff.

“The first reaction that our teachers had with the DO was: ‘Ma’am, who is going to help you with all this if you’re the only admin here?” the principal said.

While the SDO has already assigned a clustered AO (administrative officer that is assigned to more than one school) to their school, the principal said that small schools like hers also require dedicated AOs as they submit the same reports as bigger schools.

AOs are already “overwhelmed” during the transition period, the principal added. 

The DepEd order instructs SDOs to hire more non-teaching personnel and charge the funds against their Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOEs) budget.

However, EDCOM 2 has pointed out in its Year One report that 30%–70% of MOOE budgets of schools are spent on utility bills alone, leaving little funds to bankroll other school needs and initiatives to improve learning.

During the meeting, DepEd Undersecretary Wilfredo Cabral explained that schools with not enough non-teaching personnel will be assigned AOs by clusters. A funding of P300 million will also be sourced from the DepEd Central Office to hire more personnel, Cabral said.

Asked if the cluster strategy has been effective in relieving teachers of administrative tasks, Cabral said that it has been akin to a “workaround” given the size of DepEd. 

Vice President and Education Secretary Duterte earlier said the department would hire 5,000 administrative personnel this year.

DepEd has 7,239 unfilled non-teaching positions, which would take P1.6 billion in total to fill. 

While the Teachers' Dignity Coalition welcomed the DepEd order, they also said that the hiring of 10,000 administrative staff last year falls short of providing one AO per school, considering there are approximately 47,000 public schools nationwide.