Party-list reminds DepEd of vow to hire more non-teaching staff

ACT Teachers party-list group on Wednesday called on the Department of Education to be true to their word of hiring more non-teaching personnel to unburden teachers of their administrative tasks, and that hiring should be done before classes resume on August 22.

Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Representative France Castro made call after DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa said last week that the agency is eyeing to employ more non-teaching staff to help the educators with their tasks so they could focus on their teaching.

Castro said there were clinic teachers, teacher-librarian, teacher-clerks, canteen teachers, feeding teachers, registrar teachers, teacher-guidance counselors, teacher nutritionists, and property custodian teachers, among others “due to the lack of education support personnel hired by our government.”

“Sana totoong magawa ng DepEd na makapag-hire ng mga education support personnel at hindi maiwan sa pangako. Taon-taon na lang nababaon sa gabundok na gawaing papel ang mga guro na labas sa kanilang teaching duties para lubos na makapaghatid ng serbisyo sa kanilang mga mag-aaral hindi lamang sa pagtuturo kundi pati sa kanilang nutrisyon, paninigurado na may sapat na learning materials at teaching supplies ang mga paaralan, may makakapagbigay ng paunang atensyong medikal ang mga nangangailangan, at iba pang dagdag na trabaho na ipinapataw sa mga guro," she said.

(We expect that DepEd will be able to hire education support personnel and not fall behind on their promise. Every year, teachers are buried in lots of paper works outside of their teaching duties in order to fully deliver services to their students not only in teaching, but also in their nutrition, ensuring that there are enough learning materials, medical attention is given to those in need, and other extra work.)

Castro also said that it is high time for DepEd to correct this practice of giving teachers additional work or having them work beyond their duty hours. She stressed that enough education support staff are needed in every school all over the country.

“Hiring enough education support personnel per school for these specific and specialized tasks will allow teachers to concentrate and prepare for their classes,” she added.

Further, Castro asked DepEd to release guidelines as to what kind of education support personnel they would hire, and urged the agency to release guidelines, amend or repeal the measures that saddle teachers with tasks not related to teaching.

No definite time yet

In response, DepEd spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa said they will determine how many non-teaching personnel will be hired based on their assessment on the volume of administrative tasks of teachers.

He, however, said that such an assessment has no definite timeline yet.

“The DepEd is currently studying the admin tasks being given to teachers and determining if they can be reduced or totally eliminated. Once the volume of administrative tasks is determined, only then can we determine the number of non-teaching staff to be hired,” he told GMA News Online.

“As of the moment, I cannot give you a definite timeline while the review is being conducted,” he added.

Asked if DepEd could push through with the hiring of the non-teaching personnel for at least the early half of the incoming school year, Poa said they will endeavor to do so “as soon as possible.”

“We endeavor to this ASAP (as soon as possible). We understand the difficulties of teachers in terms of the heavy administrative tasks,” he said.

On Wednesday, Poa said DepEd will focus on studying possible more non-financial benefits to teachers. He said  DepEd is also looking into trainings for promotion as one of the possible non-financial benefits for them. —LBG, GMA News