Number of teachers in Region 7dwindling

CEBU, Philippines — Despite the decrease of unfilled plantilla positions of the Department of Education (DepEd)-7 from 3.09 percent in August 2024 to 2.75 percent this September, the education sector pointed out that achieving 100 percent staffing is unrealistic due to consistent resignations, retirements, and unfortunate deaths among teaching and non-teaching staff.

In a recent data presented by DepEd-7, it showed that staffing situations in public schools have decreased from 2,661 on August 28, 2024 to 2,369 on September 23, 2024.

DepEd-7 Regional Director Salustiano Jimenez said that many of the reasons for teachers and personnel leaving work in the education sector is for opportunities abroad.

“Almost every week I am signing resignation papers. They will go outside the country for good,” Jimenez admitted.

In Central Visayas alone, there are approximately 82,000 teaching and non-teaching personnel. Of this total number, 76,000 are holding the teaching positions.

From 2022 to the present, DepEd-7 has experienced nearly 3,000 resignations from work with close to 700 teachers who have resigned this year alone.

Jimenez said that this turnover created a cycle of vacancies.

“Actually we cannot have this 100 percent because almost everyday there are teachers and non-teaching teachers who will retire, or resign because they want to go abroad or in sad cases, die,” he said.

In the national scene, the 2023 annual audit report of Commission on Audit (COA) revealed that over 30,000 teachers and teaching-related personnel were lost nationwide during the last term of former Vice President Sara Duterte.

While President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos signed into law the granting of up to P10,000 in teaching supply allowance for Filipino teachers annually and medical allowance of P7,000, Jimenez highlighted that the impact of additional benefits is largely dependent on the educators themselves.

“There are teachers who are very happy receiving those and even without those and are still staying here in the Philippines because they believe that their services are really needed by their fellow Filipinos,” Jimenez explained.

However, he added that there are also teachers who have valid reasons, particularly those with financial needs, and possibly the dire need for them to sustain their family.

Part of the initiative to address the shortage of teachers in DepEd-7 was the recent collaboration with Cebu Normal University wherein a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed with an objective to develop short courses aimed at improving the qualifications of teachers, especially in critical areas like mathematics and science.

As the regional director highlighted this program, DepEd-7 and CNU launched a three-year agreement for a training workshop series designed to enhance STEM education and empower public educators in Central Visayas.

“So that our teachers who are handling math and science even though they are not majors, because of the lack of teachers who are handling (such subjects), at least we can do something for the teachers,” said Jimenez.

Further, DepEd-7 also continued to implement reduced administrative tasks, allowing teachers to focus more on their teaching responsibilities and to lessen educator’s burden.

The current structure mandates six hours of actual teaching, with the remaining two hours allocated for preparation or additional activities, as prescribed by the Civil Service Commission. –/ATO (FREEMAN)