NATION

P1.9-B proposed for hiring non-teaching personnel to decongest teachers’ workloads

Lade Jean Kabagani · Nov 21, 2023, 6:35 PM

Teachers at Victorino Mapa High School write a welcome message for the incoming students on their blackboard while cleaning the school's grounds on 14 August 2023. | 📸 KING RODRIGUEZ.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has proposed the allocation of P1.9 billion for the hiring of non-teaching personnel to help decongest the workloads of regular teachers so it would enable them to focus on improving the quality of their teaching.

Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Basic Education, specifically seeks the augmentation for the creation of 5,000 positions for Administrative Officer II and 3,000 for Project Development Officer I under the Department of Education's Personnel Services.

Citing the Legislative Budget Research and Monitoring Office (LBRMO), Gatchalian said that the proposed 2024 national budget "has no allocation for the hiring of non-teaching personnel."

"We recommended an allocation of P1.9 billion, I know it's a substantial amount to hire 5,000 administrative officers and 3,000 project development officers to help our teachers unload their administrative responsibilities. This is one of the low-hanging fruits in terms of improving efficiency in our classrooms," Gatchalian said during the plenary debates on DepEd's proposed 2024 national budget on late Monday.

Gatchalian stressed that the congestion of teachers' workload has affected the quality of teaching in public schools.

The Philippine Institute for Development Studies pointed out in 2019 that actual teaching is sidelined by other administrative and student support roles of teachers, which include their participation in programs like mass immunizations, deworming, and elections, among others.

In 2022, Gatchalian urged the DepEd to study the recommendation of the PIDS to conduct evidence-based studies on teacher workload, which will rationalize the job functions of public school teachers, allow them to balance their workload, and allocate more of their time to improve learner outcomes.

This is one of Gatchalian's recommendations when he presented the findings of an oversight review on the implementation of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers (Republic Act No. 4670).

Gatchalian bared his plans to file amendments to the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers and make it more responsive to teachers' present challenges and needs.