DBM OKs creation of 5,000 non-teaching positions for DepEd schools

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has approved the creation of 5,000 non-teaching positions for the Department of Education’s (DepEd) schools all over the country.

In a statement on Wednesday, DBM said the creation of non-teaching positions is aimed at providing “adequate manpower and support to educators in giving quality instruction to learners.”

Broken down, the created 5,000 non-teaching positions are mostly 3,500 Administrative Officer (AO) II positions intended to relieve teachers of administrative tasks that support operations.

The remaining 1,500 are Project Development Officer (PDO) I positions, which shall complement the AO II and other non-teaching personnel in schools by facilitating the implementation of various programs, projects, and activities initiated by schools or mandated by the DepEd Central Office.

The AO II and PDO I positions are entitled to a basic salary of P27,000 (SG-11) based on the Fourth Tranche Monthly Salary Schedule for Civilian Personnel of the National Government, according to the DBM.

The non-teaching personnel will be deployed in various schools division offices (SDOs) in the following regions: Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), CARAGA, National Capital Region (NCR), Regions I, II, III, IV-A, IV-B, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XII.

The Budget Department said the funding requirements for the filled positions out of said created positions shall be charged against the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund (MPBF) in the Fiscal Year 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA), while the Retirement and Life Insurance Premium is chargeable against Automatic Appropriations.

"Malaking tulong po ito sa ating mga guro na ma-unload sila sa mga administrative work at maka-focus sa pagtuturo sa mga estudyante (This is a big help to our teachers to unload them of administrative work and focus on teaching students). By hiring non-teaching staff, our educators will be able to save a lot of time and effort," said Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman.

The DBM cited President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s 2022 campaign remarks that many teachers were performing tasks that were unrelated to their job which resulted in fatigue and burn-out that affected their quality of teaching.

“We need to hire more non-teaching personnel who are qualified for the job, yung tinutukoy ko is yung mga sobrang ginagawa ng mga guro na hindi naman dapat sila gumagawa (I am referring to the additional work being done by teachers which they should not be doing),” said the President.

“We can give teachers more time to prepare their lesson plans. Sometimes, our teachers also serve as the librarian, nurse, we even receive reports that some are also in charge of the canteen,” said Marcos. —VAL, GMA Integrated News