The Department of Education (DepEd) announced on Thursday that it is set to renew and hire 7,062 school-based administrative support staff under contract of service across eligible public schools nationwide.

The initiative reinforces the agency’s efforts to remove non-teaching tasks from educators, ensuring that they can dedicate more time to lesson preparation and student engagement, as these personnel will provide clerical and administrative support to school heads, allowing teachers to focus on their core responsibility of teaching.

“Our teachers belong in the classroom, not behind paperwork. By ensuring that every school has the necessary support staff, we are taking a concrete step toward making the learning environment more focused, effective, and responsive to the needs of our students,” Education Secretary Sonny Angara said.

The policy is aligned with DepEd Order 002, s. 2024, which mandates the immediate removal of administrative tasks from public school teachers, and DepEd Order 005, s. 2024 that rationalizes teachers’ workload and provides guidelines for compensating teaching overload.

To recall, DepEd has allocated additional maintenance and other operating expenses funds to cover the salaries of these personnel. Compensation will be based on the prevailing regional minimum wage, multiplied by 22 working days per month.

The contract also includes a 12.5 percent premium, which will be paid in tranches.

Under the renewal and hiring guidelines, contract of service personnel will assist with school operations such as preparing reports, coordinating school programs and activities, and handling other clerical tasks assigned by the school head.