Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines on Thursday said the government’s approval of more than 32,000 new teaching positions for School Year 2026–2027 is a welcome development but remains far too small to address the country’s long-standing teacher shortage.

In its statement, ACT Chairperson Ruby Bernardo said the newly approved positions fall short of the estimated 145,000-teacher gap, citing earlier findings of the Congressional Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II).

“EDCOM II previously reported that from 2022 to 2023, only 3,415 of the 46,000 unfilled teaching positions were filled. This shows that even the annual target of hiring 10,000 new teachers in recent years has not been met, further worsening the backlog. The challenge now lies in filling the approved 32,000 new teaching positions this year,” Bernardo said. 

“DepEd must ensure that all these posts are filled and, at the very least, sustain this level of hiring annually if the country is serious about resolving the teacher shortage within the next five years,” Bernardo added.

The Department of Education (DepEd) has previously acknowledged that regional hiring bottlenecks, budget limitations, and the lack of applicants in far-flung areas are slowing down recruitment.

Bernardo said shortages are already altering teaching conditions nationwide.

“In many schools, shortages force teachers to handle subjects beyond their specialization. They are also made to take on administrative tasks, and even programs like ARAL—despite earlier assurances that such responsibilities would not fall on teachers. This is the reality of an overworked and underpaid workforce,” she said.

EDCOM II earlier confirmed these conditions, noting in its report that teachers routinely manage oversized classes of 45–60 learners, with some handling multiple grade levels or subjects they were not trained for.

ACT said the lack of sufficient teaching personnel has forced educators to shoulder both teaching and administrative tasks.

“You cannot expect quality education when teachers are stretched beyond their training, forced into multiple roles, and deprived of adequate support,” Bernardo added. “Overwork has been normalized, but it is fundamentally unsustainable.”

Bernardo noted that the teacher shortage is only one aspect of the public school system’s resource deficits. Independent assessments and government audits in the past decade have repeatedly identified shortages in classrooms, learning materials, and school facilities.

“These shortages are only one layer of a larger crisis. We have overcrowded classrooms, insufficient instructional materials, and chronic underfunding that has persisted for decades,” Bernardo said.

She also criticized proposals such as trimester schedules and repeated revisions to the Senior High School curriculum, saying these do not address the lack of personnel, infrastructure, and learning resources.

With the upcoming school year approaching, ACT said meaningful reform must begin with significant increases in the education budget, particularly for teacher hiring, school infrastructure, and learning materials.

“We call on teachers across the country to unite, organize, and intensify their collective struggle for substantive reforms that address the crisis in its entirety,” she said.