NO MORE ADMIN TASKS FOR TEACHERS

TRISHA MAE M. HIPOLITO

The Department of Education (DepEd) has issued a memorandum recently, reminding all officials of regional and division offices as well as superintendents and public school supervisors to refrain from “requiring unnecessary tasks from the teachers.”

According to the DepEd, there will be administrative repercussions for requiring teachers to perform “unnecessary tasks” that distract them from teaching functions.

The memo came on the heels of a recent report that some teachers were ordered to prepare the assessment of programs, projects and activities. These, the DepEd said, should have been done by personnel of regional or school division offices.

“In view of the foregoing, all Regional Directors are requested to remind the chiefs of the functional divisions within the regional and division offices including the superintendents and public schools district supervisors to refrain from requiring unnecessary tasks from the teachers,” the memorandum stated.

“This is for the purpose of enabling teachers to focus and maximize their time in performing teaching functions,” it added.

There are now various policies to support the prohibition, including the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers. There are several other DepEd orders and memoranda on the deployment and assignment of public school teachers and guidelines on the working hours of public school teachers.

“Any DepEd personnel who will violate any provisions of these policies shall be dealt with administratively pursuant to DO No. 49, s. 2006, otherwise known as the Revised Rules of Procedure of the Department of Education in Administrative Cases without prejudice to other legal remedies available to the government,” DepEd said.

-oOoThe author is a Teacher II at Mexico Elementary School