DepEd exodus: 'Thousands' of teachers quitting yearly
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education is grappling with a growing shortage not only of classrooms but also of teachers as thousands are estimated to be leaving the public school system annually.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara on Tuesday, September 10, told the Senate finance committee that DepEd is being gutted by "thousands" of teachers every year, with retirement, migration for better opportunities abroad and limited career growth as the primary reasons for their departure.
The government cannot hire new replacement teachers fast enough — a problem that both Angara and Senate basic education committee chairperson Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian believe worsens the critical shortage of educators across the country.
"[Our teachers] are really being pirated by other countries," Angara said in mixed Filipino and English, adding there is a tall demand for English teachers globally.
"For various causes, we lose thousands every year. [Some] retire, some leave for greener pastures," said Angara, who assumed DepEd's top post on July 19.
Over the years, several teachers "at the bottom" — or those who occupy the entry-level teaching position Teacher I — feel they have "stalled" in their careers due to the lack of promotion, Angara explained.
"They are only promoted to two levels after decades of service, and the monetary equivalent is just a few thousand pesos," he said.
Angara said he is hopeful that the recent enforcement of Executive Order 174, which expands teaching ranks beyond the current Teacher I, II and III positions, will address the lack of career advancement and incentivize teachers to stay in the profession.
Even then, the difficulty in hiring teachers can vary by grade level. For instance, DepEd finds it more difficult to hire teachers for junior high school than lower levels as lessons at this level require more specialization, Angara said.
For its proposed 2025 budget, DepEd is asking Congress for an additional P15.4 billion to expand its teaching workforce with 56,060 new personnel.
Currently, there are about 910,434 teachers in the public school system, based on DepEd's budget presentation.
Will this be enough? Gatchalian recalled that in previous budget hearings with then-Secretary Leonor Briones, he was informed that DepEd requires about 46 months to fill up a single teaching position.
"A lot of the processes are outside DepEd - it goes to the civil service, the [Department of Budget and Management,]" Gatchalian said.
"Teachers [are] one aspect that keeps increasing due to the increasing student population," he added.
DepEd's human resources department needs to keep a closer eye on the division offices, which is where the hiring of teachers take place, Angara said.
The DepEd secretary also informed the committee that Wilfredo Cabral, DepEd undersecretary for human resources, "has issued a number of memorandums to the 200+ divisions at the city and provincial level to speed up the hiring."
To deload teachers of non-teaching tasks, which is a long-standing complaint of teacher groups, DepEd will hire 10,000 more administrative officers next year on top of the recently created 5,000 administrative positions this year, Angara said.
This means that nearly a quarter of all public schools will get at least one more administrative officer next year, based on Gatchalian's estimates.
Angara pointed out that removing non-teaching tasks was already recommended during the first Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM I) in 1991, chaired by his father, the late Edgardo Angara.
The recommendation was even mentioned in the 1925 Monroe Survey Report on the Philippine education system.
"That's how long the problem has subsisted," Angara said.
30k left under Sara
More than 30,000 teachers and education staff left DepEd between 2022 and 2023, according to the department's 2023 audit report. This period covers the only full year of Vice President Sara Duterte as DepEd secretary. She resigned on June 19.
DepEd data shows that the number of teachers dropped from 879,793 at the end of 2022 to 858,318 by December 31, 2023, a decrease of 21,475.
Additionally, teaching-related personnel, including education supervisors, principals, head teachers, and guidance counselors, declined from 63,610 to 54,827.
Hiring struggles despite inflation-adjusted pay
A 2023 Philstar.com analysis of teachers' wages and DepEd's target number for hiring new teachers shows the agency has struggled to fill vacant teaching positions despite pay hikes adjusted for inflation.
While the government has generally tried to keep entry-level teachers’ annual salary increases attractive despite soaring inflation, from 2019 to 2021, DepEd could only meet little more than half of its target number of new teachers hired during this time.
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