More non-teaching help needed
‘We applaud the hiring of new teachers — it’s a step in the right direction,’ Alidon said. ‘But we also want to raise concerns over the lack of non-teaching personnel across the country.’
Daily Tribune‘We applaud the hiring of new teachers — it’s a step in the right direction,’ Alidon said. ‘But we also want to raise concerns over the lack of non-teaching personnel across the country.’
While welcoming the government’s move to hire thousands of new public school teachers, a group of DepEd workers is calling attention to another pressing need: more non-teaching personnel.
Lawyer Domingo Alidon, president of the Department of Education-National Employees Union, lauded the recent approval of 16,000 new teaching positions for the coming school year. But he said it was time the agency also addressed the growing shortage in support staff.
“We applaud the hiring of new teachers — it’s a step in the right direction,” Alidon said. “But we also want to raise concerns over the lack of non-teaching personnel across the country.”
According to Alidon, many administrative tasks that used to be handled by teachers are now being shifted to non-teaching staff. While this move allows teachers to focus more on instruction, it also means more hands are needed behind the scenes.
“If we want quality public service and to avoid overburdening the existing staff, we really need to increase the number of non-teaching personnel,” he said.
Earlier this month, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) gave the green light for the creation of 16,000 new teaching positions for school year 2025–2026. This includes over 15,000 slots for Teacher I positions, 500 for Special Education teachers, and 157 for Special Science teachers.
The DBM said the move follows President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to improve the country’s education system. The DepEd has allocated P4.2 billion to fund the hiring.
To give school divisions more flexibility, especially at the senior high school level, the DBM said the new positions will be created at the division level, allowing superintendents to assign teachers where they’re most needed.
Still, as classrooms get new teachers, education workers say it is just as important to strengthen the support system that keeps schools running smoothly.