The Department of Education (DepEd) on Friday said it is working to implement a 1:1 principal-to-school policy and assessing the distribution of qualified principals across regions.

“We will create and deploy school principal positions in schools that do not have one. Under our current policy, it is not automatic to have one school head per school. We will change this. As long as there is a school, there must be a principal,” Education Secretary Sonny Angara said in Filipino.

This initiative is in response to the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) Year 2 report, which found that 24,916 public schools currently lack school heads.

To address this, DepEd plans to prioritize the promotion and reclassification of qualified head teachers and teachers-in-charge into formal principal positions.

The department will also assess regions with an oversupply of qualified principal applicants and develop strategies to fairly reallocate them to areas experiencing shortages.

Angara noted, “We also need to see the overall distribution. Where are the regions with an oversupply of qualified principals? How can this be distributed while being fair to the principal applicants?”

Meanwhile, DepEd is also setting up a plan for the decentralization of the National Qualifying Examination for School Heads (NQESH) while maintaining a uniform standard across all divisions and regions to improve accessibility for aspiring school leaders.

The department is likewise in the exploratory stage of offering NQESH at more frequent intervals and expanding targeted training programs under the National Educators Academy of the Philippines to support teachers aspiring for principalship.