DBM approves creation of 5K non-teaching positions in DepEd

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Budget and Management has approved the creation of 5,000 new non-teaching positions at the Department of Education with the aim of unburdening teachers from administrative tasks.

In a statement on Tuesday, the DBM said this consists of Administrative Officer II positions with Salary Grade 11, equivalent to P27,000 monthly, according to the government’s latest salary standard.

These administrative officers will be deployed to various schools division offices and schools nationwide.

“Our educators already have their plates full. By approving the creation of 5,000 non-teaching positions, we aim to relieve teachers of administrative tasks and allow them to focus on quality instruction,” DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said in a news release.

Funding requirements for the positions will be charged against the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund in the 2024 budget, while funding for retirement and insurance will be taken from the annual automatic appropriations.

Public school teachers have long been burdened with clerical tasks that typically sideline them from solely focusing on students’ learning. The hours they spend finishing administrative work also result in extended work hours despite the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers mandating only six-hour work days.

A 2019 study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies titled "Pressures on Public School Teachers and Implications on Quality" identified several tasks public school teachers are saddled with, such as mass immunizations, community mapping, conditional cash transfer, deworming, feeding and population census, among others.

Teachers who render overtime work for administrative tasks are also generally compensated with service credits.

In January, DepEd issued Order No. 2 that mandated the “immediate” removal of non-teaching tasks from teachers. Some schools had to deal with the policy through immediate hiring of non-teaching personnel, but in cases where that’s not possible, they had to tap administrative officers in the division handling multiple other schools. — Cristina Chi