THE SENATE education committee on Sunday flagged the lack of over 7,000 teachers in the special needs sector.
There is an estimated shortfall of 7,651 special needs teachers based on public school enrollment for School Year (SY) 2023-2024, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian said, citing an oversight review of Republic Act No. 11650, Instituting a Policy of Inclusion and Services for Learners with Disabilities in Support of Inclusive Education Act.
There were only 5,147 special needs education teachers, while there were 323,344 learners with disabilities aged two to 17 enrolled for SY 2023-2024, he said in a statement.
“One of the challenges in implementing inclusive education is the supply of qualified teachers,” the senator said in a statement.
“The intention is to address the supply issues in terms of teachers with knowledge in special needs education.”
Mr. Gatchalian said the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) should ensure the availability of qualified special needs teachers.
RA No. 11650 mandated schools to ensure that all learners with disabilities have access to quality education, such that no learner shall be denied admission because of disability.
It also aims to train and equip teachers and school personnel in the care, development, education, and advancement of learners with disabilities.
Under the law, the DepEd is mandated to collaborate with the CHED to ensure that updated courses on inclusive education, which should respond to the needs of learners with disabilities, are included in bachelor of elementary or secondary education programs.
The law also mandated the development of a scholarship program for in-service teachers to pursue required master’s degree units in special needs education, inclusive education, or related courses.
Grantees will be required to fulfill a return service obligation within the DepEd.
“The reason why we wanted to come up with a scholarship program is precisely to address the shortfall, because moving forward, as we encourage more parents to send their children to school and as we implement the Child-Find System, we will see an uptick in enrollment and we have to make sure that we have teachers who are trained in special needs education,” Mr. Gatchalian said. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
