More than 11K teachers hired this year, says DepEd

The Department of Education announced on Sunday that over the 11,000 teachers’ employment is one of its accomplishments for 2022.

According to the Office of the Press Secretary, the DepEd’s year-end report — which was presented to Malacañang — showed that a total of 11,580 teachers were hired and some 5,000 administrative officer items were created in a bid to relieve teachers of their administrative loads.

To recall, DepEd spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa earlier admitted that among the challenges they faced in the current academic year was the lack of teachers, on top of a shortage of school infrastructure and furniture.

And for the School Year 2023-2024, Poa said that the agency has planned to hire around 10,000 more teachers.

According to DepEd data, 15,331 teachers and school leaders also received graduate scholarships, while 17,636 were trained in early-grade language literacy, while a total of 161,700 teachers also completed the National Educators’ Academy of the Philippines subsidized teaching courses, and 31,700 went through the Teacher Induction Program.

Meantime, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has cited the importance of supporting teachers and not “scrimping on the amount” for the children’s education as the country’s future lies on them.

In a meeting with the Filipino community in New York in September, the president said the DepEd had been actively working on strengthening the Philippines’ education system so that Filipino children would be prepared wherever they go.

“Our children must be equipped with the best that we can possibly provide. We cannot scrimp on the amount,” said the President.

The Chief Executive has since reiterated that the Philippines must do better in science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses.