DepEd eyes senior mentors to fill vacancies for principals 

Department of Education Sec. Sonny Angara speaks to the members of the media and answer questions at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay, Cafe Adriatico, Manila City on Wednesday, January 22, 2025. Arnel Tacson/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) on Friday said it is planning to promote qualified teachers to principals in response to the lack of school heads in almost 25,000 public schools nationwide.

In a statement, Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara said that the government is considering deploying principals to schools that lack school heads, aiming to implement a 1:1 principal-to-school policy.

“In our current policy, it is not automatic to have one school head per one school. We will change that. When there is a school, there should be a principal,” he said.

The initiative was in response to the findings of the Second Congressional Commission on Education Year 2 (Edcom 2) report, which found that a total of 24,916 public schools in the country have no principals.

193 teachers undefined

Of these 24,916 schools, 13,332 are headed only by a head teacher, 8,916 by a teacher in charge, 2,337 by an officer in charge, while 193 were “undefined.”

Aside from promoting qualified teachers, the DepEd said it will also look into regions that have an oversupply of qualified principal applicants and reallocate them into areas that have shortages.

“We need to see the overall distribution. Which regions have an oversupply of qualified principals? How can we distribute this while being fair to the principal applicants?” Angara said.

The DepEd said it was also exploring the possibility of offering the National Qualifying Examination for School Heads (NQESH) at more frequent intervals in order to support teachers aspiring to become principals.

Passing the NQESH, also known as the Principals’ Test, is one of the requirements needed by applicants to be reclassified or appointed as principal or assistant principal.

In addition, the DepEd said it is looking into expanding targeted training programs under the National Educators Academy of the Philippines, its training arm for teachers.

“In the Philippine education system, school heads play a crucial role in providing instructional leadership, managing school operations, ensuring the effective implementation of policies, and fostering a supportive learning environment that enhances both teacher performance and student outcomes,” the DepEd said in its statement.