Philippines: 16,000 new teachers sought, know the salaries, perks

Manila: To tackle the severe lack of teachers in state-run educational institutions, the Filipino authorities have sanctioned an additional 16,000 teaching roles effective from June 16th.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) disclosed on May 18th the endorsement of the initial tranche for an intended recruitment drive totaling 20,000 new positions, designed to strengthen the nation’s educational framework.

The ACT approves of the action taken but believes additional steps are necessary.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) welcomed the DBM's decision, calling it a major improvement compared to previous years.

During Vice President Sara Duterte's tenure as education secretary, fewer than 10,000 new teaching positions were established each year.

Needed: 150,000 more teachers

Nevertheless, ACT chairman Vladimer Quetua stressed that the 16,000 positions are significantly inadequate compared to the approximate 150,000 extra educators required to guarantee high-quality education throughout the nation.

Vladimir Quetua, ACT chair The government needs to intensify its efforts to swiftly fill these additional roles and contemplate adding further positions for the upcoming academic year.

He highlighted that under Duterte's term, numerous freshly-established roles stayed vacant because of bureaucratic holdups.

Frequently, applications would take between two to three months to process, resulting in numerous new employees beginning their roles as late as August or December.

Moreover, several candidates did not satisfy the qualification criteria.

" Ideally, all these 16,000 roles should be occupied at the earliest," Quetua noted, recognizing the difficulties ahead.

Breakdown of new positions

As per the DBM, the 16,000 additional teaching positions consist of:

• 15,343 = Teaching position at Salary Grade 11, with monthly wages between ₱28,512 and ₱30,587 ($549).

• 157 = Positions for Specialist Science Teachers (Salary Grade 13), with wages ranging from ₱32,870 to ₱35,141 ($630).

• 500 = Positions for special education teachers at Salary Grade 14 (SG 14), with wages ranging from ₱35,434 to ₱38,049 ($684).

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said that this step aligns with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s instruction to bolster the educational framework.

Aside from their basic pay, public school educators receive extra perks including a uniform subsidy, bonuses at both mid-year and year-end stages, a monetary present, a productivity improvement incentive (PIE), an annual milestone bonus, and a merit-based reward. Additionally, they have access to sick leaves, compensated vacation periods, along with various forms of absence like maternity, paternity, and academic pursuits-related leave. Teacher entitlements encompass these benefits and compensations.

She likewise confirmed that this programme is aligned with the Department of Education’s (DepEd) effort to enhance teaching capabilities across all levels, from kindergarten through senior high school, as well as within the Alternative Learning System (ALS).

The funding for the new employees will be provided by the Department of Education (DepEd). ₱4.194-billion (£75.4 million) allocation outlined in the 2025 General Appropriations Act, designated exclusively for hiring additional staff.

Backlog, bureaucracy

Even with the positive progress, ACT warned that unless the recruitment procedure is simplified, numerous roles might stay unfilled even as classes restart in June.

The DepEd has been advised to process applications promptly and possibly think about conducting mid-year recruitment to address vacancies as the academic year continues.

During ex-President Benigno Aquino III’s tenure, the administration typically established as many as 40,000 fresh teaching roles each year, markedly higher than present figures.

Historical context

The Department for Education has been progressively boosting the number of new teaching roles in recent years.

• May 2024: 22,323 new roles established for SY 2024–2025

• June 2023: 9,650 roles established for SY 2023–2024

• May 2022: 9,548 roles established for SY 2022–2023

Despite these efforts, DepEd has struggled to fill the posts.

In Senate budget hearings in November 2023, it was revealed that only 3,352 out of 9,650 Approved positions have already been filled for the academic year 2023–2024.

With the onset of the new academic term, proponents of educational reform emphasize that promptly and effectively recruiting all 16,000 recently sanctioned educators will be essential for alleviating overpopulated classrooms and enhancing the standard of state-run schooling nationwide.