Despite 9-B budget, 39,000 teaching positions nationwide remain vacant

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto strongly suggested to the Department of Education (DepEd) to tap the huge Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) pool after learning it has not hired a single teacher for the current school year.

Recto made the suggestion after the education department admitted in its report to the Senate that it has yet to hire one teacher after it was authorized to fill up 39,066 slots this year.

DepEd was given 9.35 billion to fund the first-year salary of 39,066 newly-created teaching positions, but not one teacher has been recruited in time for school opening last June 2.

In fact, as of last May, DepEd was still processing the appointment papers of about 1,800 teachers who will occupy positions created in 2014, Recto said.

Those in DepEd represent the biggest chunk of job vacancies in government today, based on the “Staffing Summary”, a Department of Budget and Management (DBM) document which tallies “filled and unfilled permanent” positions in the government.

For 2015, there are a total of 1,433,186 permanent and funded positions, of which 1,244,931 are filled.

Amounts for the salaries of the “unfilled positions” are parked in the Miscellaneous and Personnel Benefits Fund in the national budget and which will be released only to an agency once it has made the recruitment.

But Recto explained that not all positions would be filled as some of these are deemed not needed or urgent at the moment.

To attract OFWs who may want to return to the country and join the civil service, Philippine embassies should start “posting ‘help wanted’ ads” in consular offices, he explained.

The DOLE model

Recto cited one notable program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) which can be used as a template in attracting OFWs to apply for government jobs.

He was referring to DOLE’s “Sa ‘Pinas Ikaw ang Ma’am/Sir” project which helps OFWs with degrees in education or who had teaching experience re-enter the teaching profession by landing jobs at DepEd..

Recto said that as of March this year, the project has been able to refer 334 OFWs to DepEd for possible placement.

Initiated by DOLE and launched in the last quarter of 2014, it is a convergence project of DOLE, DepEd, and the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC).

“Itong mga LET passers, kung gusto nilang mag-balik-turo, dapat tulungan ng pamahalaan. (The LET passers who want to return to teacting should be helped by the government). I would even suggest that of the thousands of teachers government hires a year, a quota must be reserved for them,” Recto said.