‘Ensure teachers’non-administrative tasks’

THE Second Congressional Commission on Ed”cation (Edcom 2) has called on the Department of Ed”cation (DepEd) to ens”re that its newly released policy on removing administrative tasks of p”blic school teachers be f”lly implemented despite possible bottlenecks d”e to a lack of non-teaching personnel and cl”stering of schools.

DepEd Order 2 (DO2) series of 2024, signed by Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte on January 26, ordered the immediate removal of administrative tasks of public school teachers with the aim of “building a conducive environment for effective teaching and learning to thrive.”

DO2 also said there would be a 60day transition period for Schools Division Offices (SDOs) where it would provide support for clustering of schools, deployment of non-teaching personnel, insurance of the immediate transfer and turnover of existing administrative tasks, and hiring of administrative support personnel.

Edcom 2’s Year One report indicated that teachers had lamented their inability to focus on teaching their students, given the burden of more than 50 ancillary and administrative tasks.

During a hearing of the commission last February 8 at the University of the Philippines-Bonifacio Global City campus, Education Officer in Charge Wilfredo Cabral, undersecretary for Human Resource and Organizational Development, said that during the transitory period, SDOs should be tasked to submit a proposed deployment of non-teaching personnel and clustering of schools.

Teachers’ opinion

An invited public school teacher from Metro Manila said the order would greatly help them as the time allotted for administrative tasks would be shifted to teaching and increase their focus on their students. Another teacher, Julie from Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), asked the panel about the replacement to do the administrative tasks.

“Kung tatanggalin siya sa teachers, kailangan may sasalo… Hindi talaga kakayanin ng isang school head namin at ng isang administrative officer namin na sasaluhin ang lahat ng administrative tasks ng teachers (Someone should take over if administrative tasks are taken from the teachers. Our school head and one administrative officer won’t be able to handle the tasks),” Julie said.

A principal named Mimi, also from Calabarzon, said administrative officers were overworked during the transition period. She noted that, unlike before, their administrative officers will now do administrative tasks for two or three schools instead of only one, adding that many administrative officers are now contemplating resigning due to the excessive workload.

Partnership with CSOs Edcom 2 co-chairman Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian urged the DepEd to explore partnerships with civil society organizations (CSOs) and other stakeholders to implement the directive.

“They can really help them — it will unburden not only DepEd but also teachers of these matters. So, just include that in your design,” Gatchalian said.

Edcom 2 Executive Director Karol Mark Yee said there should be an equitable allocation of personnel and resources, noting that in the Year One report, there were “severe inequities” in the distribution of the Special Education Fund and the school maintenance and other operating expenses budget.”

The DepEd had allocated an initial P300 million to provide Administrative Officer 2 positions under the department order.

Yee also said that while DO2 allows the hiring of personnel under a contract of service or job order, which could be charged under MOOE or alternative sources of funding, the commission has found in its consultations that in some schools, 30-70 percent of their budgets are consumed by electricity bills alone.

Yee said that the commission was “eagerly anticipating” the full implementation of the order by March 26 or earlier and added that they would work closely with DepEd to ensure that administrative tasks would no longer keep teachers away from their classrooms.