DepEd: Over 11,000 teachers hired in 2022

The Department of Education (DepEd) cited the employment of more than 11,000 teachers as one of its accomplishments for 2022, Malacañang said Sunday.

The Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) said DepEd’s year-end report, which was presented to Malacañang, showed that a total of 11,580 teachers were hired and some 5,000 administrative officer items were created in a bid to relieve teachers of their administrative loads.

DepEd spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa earlier admitted that among the challenges they faced in the current academic year was the lack of teachers, on top of a shortage of school infrastructure and furniture.

Thus for School Year 2023-2024, he said DepEd planned to hire around 10,000 more teachers.

According to DepEd data, 15,331 teachers and school leaders also received graduate scholarships, while 17,636 were trained in early-grade language literacy.

Additionally, a total of 161,700 teachers also completed the National Educators’ Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) subsidized teaching courses, and 31,700 went through the Teacher Induction Program.

NEAP is an attached agency within DepEd and is responsible for the design, development, and delivery of professional development for teachers, school leaders, and other teaching-related personnel.

Poa previously said DepEd would focus on providing more non-financial benefits to teachers. They were also looking to upskill the teachers and ease their administrative work and hire more non-teaching staff to help the teachers with their tasks.

Further, according to the OPS, DepEd said it prepared the National Learning Recovery Plan to guide regions, divisions, and schools in addressing learning deficiencies due to disruptions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This proposed policy is anchored on learning remediation and intervention, professional development, health, safety, and mental wellness.

“DepEd Assistant Secretary Ruby Torio earlier said the plan includes extending the school calendar, establishing a learning support center in schools and community-based learning spaces, conducting summer learning remediation and intervention programs, and hiring additional learning support aides,” the OPS said in a statement. — DVM, GMA Integrated News