LEADERSHIP ATTITUDE

Teachers are considered leaders, being the role models of learners inside and outside the classroom. They should be able to focus their time and efforts in teaching and on the learners, to be able to help develop their well-being. They should have the right attitude to be leaders, which would lead to producing productive citizens in the future. With this is mind, the Department of Education has committed to give support to teachers to teach better with the removal of their administrative tasks. Vice President land Secretary of Education l formally signed the policy on the Immediate Removal of Administrative Tasks of Public School Teachers or DepEd Order No. 002, s. 2024. The Education Chief, in removing these tasks, wants to bring teachers back to the classrooms so they can get back to their roles as leaders. To ensure its effective implementation, along with the filling up of 5,000 administrative personnel for 2023 and another 5,000 administrative personnel for 2024, the DepEd will also be providing additional MOOE to enable schools to hire the necessary administrative support staff. As transitory provision, the policy requires SDOs to immediately implement clustering strategies; deployment of administrative support personnel to clustered schools; immediate transfer of existing administrative tasks of teachers to school heads and nonteaching personnel; and hiring of administrative support personnel within a period not exceeding sixty (60) calendar days. Additionally, DepEd will soon issue the Employee Welfare and Well-being policy guidelines for teachers. Furthermore, DepEd will also establish a Calamity Fund for teachers, issue a policy on Teaching Overload Pay, and strive for the next budget to have ample allocation to provide overtime pay for teachers.

DepEd also committed in raising the cap for service credits from 15 to at least 30 days.

-oOoThe author is a Teacher III at Gerry H. Rodriguez High School