As of Thursday, 89,506 teaching posts have not been filled, making it difficult to address the Department of Education’s (DepEd) long-standing teacher shortage, according to Senator Pia Cayetano, the agency’s budget sponsor.
In plenary session of the Senate discussing the proposed national budget for 2024, Cayetano revealed that the DepEd intends to hire twenty thousand instructors for the upcoming academic year.
According to her, P5.6 billion in financing would be needed for this and would come from the agency’s Inputs to Basic Education program.
According to Cayetano, of the 9,650 instructors that DepEd had promised to hire, only 3,352 had been hired for the 2023–2024 school year.
She did, however, emphasize that the DepEd is certain that it will reach its objective by July 2024, when the current school year comes to an end.
“For 2023, the amount of P2.725 billion was in the GAA and this is meant to hire 9,650 new teaching positions,” Cayetano said.
Additionally, she said, “As to why only 3,352 have been hired, this is because the NOSCA or Notice of Staffing was only released in July… The hiring process is ongoing as we speak. DepEd assures us that they will be able to fill roughly 96% because that is their annual average…in filling the unfilled positions.”
Sara Duterte, the vice president and education secretary, will forfeit the P150 million in confidential funds for the DepEd in 2024, according to Cayetano’s announcement during the same session.
