SENATOR Sherwin T. Gatchalian renewed his call for the Department of Education (DepEd) to speed up teacher hiring after the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) approved the creation of 32,916 teaching positions under the 2026 national budget.
The allocation, totaling P42.4 billion, is intended to fund the creation of these items, of which 32,047 are classified as Teacher I positions.
Mr. Gatchalian said prolonged teacher shortages continue to hamper learning outcomes as public schools deal with overcrowded classrooms and post-pandemic recovery.
“The education crisis cannot be addressed if there is a shortage of teachers who shape the future of our youth. When our schools lack teachers, what is directly affected is the quality of learning for each student,” Mr. Gatchalian said in a statement on Wednesday in Filipino.
Mr. Gatchalian’s call for speed also comes as the DepEd implements DepEd Order No. 021, s. 2024, which amended previous guidelines to ensure the “timely and efficient filling-up of vacant positions.”
The senator previously noted that the hiring process could languish for up to six months due to bureaucratic requirements involving both the DBM and the Civil Service Commission (CSC).
The new policy mandates that the filling of positions must strictly adhere to existing law and CSC rules and regulations.
While the new positions are intended to alleviate pressure, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) argued that the move barely addresses a decades-long deficit.
ACT Chairperson Ruby Ana Bernardo said that the 32,000 new posts are insufficient against an estimated backlog of 145,000 teachers in the previous year alone.
She said that while the hiring is welcome, such levels must be maintained annually if the country hopes to fill a projected 150,000-teacher shortage by 2030.
“In many schools, shortages force teachers to handle subjects beyond their specialization,” Ms. Bernardo said via Facebook Messenger, noting that staff are also burdened with administrative tasks and programs like DepEd’s Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning despite previous promises that such duties would be removed from their workload.
“You cannot expect quality education when teachers are stretched beyond their training, forced into multiple roles, and deprived of adequate support. Overwork has been normalized, but it is fundamentally unsustainable,” she said.
The group is calling for a P50,000 entry-level wage increases for public and private school teachers, as well as those in state and local universities and colleges, to ensure both recruitment and retention.
“Hiring new teachers is necessary and retention is equally critical. Without addressing low wages and poor working conditions, newly hired teachers will eventually leave, and the cycle of shortage will continue,” Ms. Bernardo said. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking
