DepEd needs 82K new teachers – lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) will need nearly 82,000 new teachers for the K to 12 enhanced basic education program, Makati Rep. Abigail Binay said Monday.

Quoting a DepEd preliminary report, Binay said up to 81,637 new senior high school teachers would be required upon the rollout of K to 12 between 2016 and 2017.

She said the report assumes that some 1.1 million Grade 10 finishers of public junior high school will enroll in public senior high school by then.

The senior high school subjects that are anticipated to entail additional teachers are English (8,), Filipino (7,267), Social Science (8,697), Humanities (4,171), Math/Statistics (7,267), Advance Math (609), Physical Science (6,313), Life Science (5,707), Information & Communications Technology (3,982), Economics/Entrepreneurship (6,356), Philosophy (3,412), Technical Vocational Education & Training (15,634), and PE (4,055 new teachers).

“We are reporting these figures out so that this early, teacher education students who are about to graduate, fresh (teacher education) graduates, as well as newly licensed teachers still looking for gainful employment, can start specializing in subjects where their services may be required by K to 12,” she added.

Binay pointed out that the new teaching posts would be on top of those which DepEd may seek in the 2015 national budget to fill the public school system’s existing staff shortages.

Commission on Higher Education records show that some 450,000 students are now taking up teacher education, making it the most heavily subscribed college program.

The Professional Regulation Commission issued licenses to 70,672 new elementary and high school teachers in 2013 alone.

The K to 12 program covers kindergarten and 12 years of basic education — six years of elementary (Grades 1-6), four years of junior high (Grades 7-10), plus two years of senior high (Grades 11-12).

The program adds two years of senior high school to basic education in order to allow students to fully master concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.

DepEd is now the country’s biggest employer of teachers, with a total of 669,997 permanent posts, of which 591,163 have been filled.

DepEd spent a total of P148.37 billion to pay for the filled permanent teaching posts in 2013 alone.

The education department is hiring 33,194 new teachers and 1,500 additional school principals this year at a cost of P9.5 billion, on top of the 61,510 teaching personnel it recruited in 2013.