DepEd seeks to reduce more than half of teachers’ paperwork

The Department of Education (DepEd) said Monday it is set to streamline school forms and reports to ease the administrative tasks of public school teachers and allow them to focus more on teaching.

DepEd said that a new policy will reduce the paperwork of teachers by approximately 57%, from the total of 174 school forms previously required from them.

Under the policy, teachers will only have to regularly complete five forms. However, they may also accomplish 31 forms for teacher ancillary tasks, and another 39 forms for teaching-related assignments.

“Teachers have long raised concerns about excessive paperwork, and this policy directly responds to that. Reducing their bureaucratic workload will not only improve their well-being but also enhance the quality of instruction they provide to our learners,” Education Secretary Sonny Angara said in a statement.

DepEd is set to issue a formal department order to implement the new guidelines, accompanied by nationwide orientation sessions to ensure smooth implementation at the school level.

To establish a more efficient reporting system among teachers, DepEd also vowed to create a data management framework that will set the standard parameters for data collection in all schools.

“This effort shall eliminate redundant and outdated documentation requirements while ensuring essential school management information is accurately recorded,” the agency said.

DepEd said it will also launch advocacy campaigns to raise awareness on such reforms and engage education stakeholders in improving teacher working conditions.

Earlier this month, DepEd said it is set to renew and hire 7,062 school-based administrative support staff under contract of service across eligible public schools in the country.

This initiative aims to reinforce the DepEd’s efforts to remove non-teaching tasks from educators, which will ensure that they can focus more of their time on lesson preparation as well as student engagement.—AOL, GMA Integrated News