State universities, colleges in dire need of 17,057 full time teachers—lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker is asking the Department of Budget and Management to allocate P5.5 billion to fill the huge shortage of teachers in state universities and colleges (SUCs).

Pasig Rep. Raul Romulo, chair of the House committee on higher and technical Education, said that the failure of the DBM to create permanent positions in SUCs for the last 15 years has led to a shortage of 17,057 faculty members based on the 2014 survey of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC).

With teachers in short supply, Romulo said that SUCs have been coping with a ratio of one teacher for every 42 students or way above the desired ratio of 1:25.

Also, Romulo said that most teachers have become overworked and have been forced to spend less time on research and auxiliary services which he claimed was one of the reasons SUCs have lagged behind other higher education institutions in Asia in terms of performance and quality.

“Faculty members are given administrative positions to govern and manage the university affairs along with academic, extension, research and production programs of SUCs,” said Romulo.

Romulo has filed House Resolution 1659 to amend Presidential Decree No. 985, otherwise known as the “Budgetary Reform Decree on Compensation and Position Classification of 1976” issued on August 22, 1976, which was still being used as basis for the present plantilla positions of SUCs.

“There is a need to revisit the plantilla of SUCs faculty and reduce their workload from 21 to 18 units or even lower not only to ensure quality instructional delivery services, but also to enable them to give the necessary attention to research and extension and keep pace with the demands of the 21st century,” said Romulo.