Department of Education (DepEd) officials disclosed that the agency has enough funds to hire 16,390 public school teachers this year but there are few qualified teachers available in the country.
Sources at DepEd told The STAR that despite the availability of the allocation in the budget, many of the 18 regional offices and 144 districts were having a hard time recruiting qualified teachers from the current pool of new graduates of education courses.
The source said many new teachers have applied for the vacant positions but many applicants have not specialized in the core subjects of English, Science and Math.
“Most (new teachers) have specialization only in PE (Physical Education) or Home Economics or Araling Panlipunan,” an official at the DepEd central office in Pasig City said.
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus, however, clarified that there is no shortage of teachers, contrary to news reports.
“The figure does not represent a shortage. It is in fact the number of new teacher items we have this year. And with 16,390 new teachers, we actually eliminate the current shortage of teachers in the public school system.” he said.
At the Oplan Balik Eskwela command conference held last Saturday, Lapus reported to President Arroyo that 16,390 new teaching positions were opened this year and these new items are expected to fill up the vacancies for teachers in public elementary and secondary schools this school year.
Lapus said priority will be given to teachers of English, Science and Mathematics.
“We hope to attract more teachers who have expertise in English, Science and Math. This is one way of ensuring that our students are given more opportunities to improve their academic performance in these three core subjects,” Lapus said.