MANILA, Philippines — To address the “learning losses” of Filipino students following the closures of schools and the shift to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Education (DepEd) implemented learning recovery plans that included the hiring of teachers and administrative officers in 2022.
In a statement on Sunday, Malacañang said that DepEd reported hiring a total of 11,580 teachers and 5,000 administrative officers in 2022 to unburden teachers from administrative loads.
The DepEd’s year-end report to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also showed 15,331 teachers and school leaders receiving graduate scholarships and 17,636 given early-grade language literacy training.
In addition, 161,700 teachers completed the National Educators’ Academy of the Philippines subsidized teaching courses and 31,700 teachers underwent Teacher Induction Program.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers said the government should hire as many as 147,000 new teachers to reduce class size to 35 in public schools next year.
In the 2023 budget, the DepEd sought funding for 1,004,992 authorized positions and reported only 957,958 as “filled,” translating to a deficit of 47,034.