DepEd eyes 13 new divisions to ease school oversight gaps
IN PHOTOS | The Department of Education is proposing a major restructuring of its field offices to eliminate administrative delays and deliver direct assistance to remote island and mountain schools nationwide. Education Secretary Sonny Angara said that under this plan, DepEd will establish 13 new Schools Division Offices and deploy 15 field sub-offices to bring educational leadership, payroll administration, and instructional support closer to far-flung school communities.
DepEd PH
The Department of Education (DepEd) plans to establish 13 new schools division offices and 15 field sub-offices after a nationwide review found that overstretched divisions were struggling to supervise schools across remote islands and mountainous areas.
The proposed restructuring seeks to address uneven workloads among the country's 221 Schools Division Offices (SDOs), with just 10 percent supervising more than 38 percent of all basic education institutions nationwide.
“We can no longer expect a single Schools Division Superintendent in a centralized setup to effectively support and monitor schools located 300 to 600 kilometers away across open seas and mountain ranges,” Education Secretary Sonny Angara said Tuesday.
Under the proposal, DepEd would create separate divisions in northern and southern Palawan, Cebu and Iloilo; northern and southwestern Leyte; northeastern Bohol; southern Quezon and its islands; the Masbate islands; coastal Camarines Sur; and northern Cagayan and its islands.
The agency also plans to establish 15 interim sub-offices in geographically isolated areas, including Laoang in Northern Samar, Guiuan in Eastern Samar, Bislig City in Surigao del Sur and Siasi in Sulu.
DepEd said its existing classification system, which largely relies on school, teacher and learner populations, fails to account for travel distances and geographical barriers that complicate supervision.
The proposed overhaul would instead consider terrain, travel time, staffing needs and supervisory workloads in determining whether divisions require additional personnel or should be split.
However, implementing the restructuring would require amendments to Republic Act No. 9155, or the Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001.
DepEd said it would seek congressional approval and coordinate with local governments on facilities while decentralizing teacher payroll processing, technical assistance and instructional support.