Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said he will raise the recurring issues on the hiring of teachers ahead of the Senate deliberations of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) proposed 2024 budget.
Gatchalian has repeatedly urged the DepEd to speed up its hiring process. Data from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) reveals that as of February 17, 2023, there are 24,254 unfilled teaching positions in the DepEd.
This is equivalent to almost 3% of the DepEd’s 879,789 teaching positions. The bigger portion of these unfilled positions are entry-level positions such as Teacher I, Special Science Teacher I, Special Education Teacher I, and Master Teacher I.
The DepEd previously said that the hiring process, which also involves the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the DBM, usually takes six months.
The Commission on Audit (COA) also took note that while the DepEd was able to obligate 95% of its total adjustment allotments of P658.5 billion in its 2022 budget, the unutilized balance of P32.6 billion can be attributed to unfilled teaching positions, as well as the delayed, partial, and non-implementation of various programs, activities, and projects.
In a Senate basic education hearing, Gatchalian also pointed to the number of schools that do not have enough teachers for school year (SY) 2022-2023 based on DepEd data and the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028.
Out of 39,186 total schools for Kindergarten to Grade 6, 9% (3,505) have insufficient teachers. Twenty-four percent (2,412) of 10,188 junior high schools, and 34% (2,522) of 7,520 senior high schools do not have enough teachers.
Senator Chiz Escudero, chair of the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education, meanwhile asked his colleagues to pass the various bills that will create more public medical schools in the country.
Escudero said the country needs more doctors to meet the health needs of Filipinos―pandemic or no pandemic.
Escudero said even before COVID-19 struck, “the Secretary of Health said we were already 114,000 short of doctors.”
“Even if our population increase will decelerate and stabilize at 1.5 million a year, this would still have to be matched with new entrants to the medical profession,” Escudero stressed.
The veteran legislator said the five state universities that will establish their own college of medicine are the following: Benguet State University in the Cordilleras, which is the subject of Committee Report 109; Southern Luzon State University in Quezon Province, under Committee Report 110; University of Eastern Philippines in Northern Samar, under Committee Report 111; Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University in La Union, under Committee Report 112; and Visayas State University in Southern Leyte, under Committee Report 116 Escudero said the additional medical schools will boost Republic Act 11509 or the “Doktor Para Sa Bayan Act,” which was passed in December 2020. The law aims to establish a medical scholarship and return service program for deserving students who want to pursue a degree in Doctor of Medicine in state universities and colleges.
“At present, the program is offered in 16 private schools and 16 state universities with funded slots for 3,600 scholars this year. The five bills I am introducing through this omnibus sponsorship speech will bring it to 21,” the senator said.
“When enacted, this which will give the program a respectable footprint nationwide, dispersed to regions, in areas in great need of the doctors,” he said.
He also asked the Senate body to pass the bills that would allow the creation of two veterinary schools at the Bicol University in Ligao, Albay (as per Committee Report 114) and the Southern Luzon State University- Catanauan Campus (as per Committee Report 115) in Quezon province.