DepEd-7 is still hiring teachers

• Source: http://www.philstar.com/cebu-news/2015/06/01/1461004/deped-7-still-hiring-teachers
• Monday, June 1, 2015 12:00 am

By May B. Miasco (The Freeman)

CEBU, Philippines - While pupils are expected to fill the classrooms in public schools today, those willing to start a teaching profession still have the opportunity as the Department of Education is still hiring close to 4,000 for Central Visayas.

DepEd-7 said that aside from around 2,000 unfilled positions, or plantilla positions that are still vacant, the department is also allotting 2,000 slots for new teachers in the region.

It, however, said that hiring for new vacancies, or for the first level teacher positions, has not been opened yet, given that there are still existing vacant positions that need to be filled up.

DepEd-7 Chief Education Program Supervisor Marcial Degamo said that while there are 2,000 slots for new teachers allotted for Central Visayas, there are around 2,000 existing positions that are vacant and would have to be filled up first.

“There are still unfilled positions in the different school divisions. These positions for teachers, they may have retired, resigned, got into an accident, dismissed for certain cases, or had a leave and did not return to work,” he said.

The unfilled slots would be prioritized while the remaining 2,000 slots, which are for first level teachers, would be opened only after the vacant slots have been filled up.

The employment of new teachers is guided by new hiring guidelines made effective for the incoming school year.

“The issuance of these Guidelines aims to integrate and further institutionalize the primary objective of the K to 12 Basic Education Program, which is to enhance the overall quality of basic education in the country by hiring highly-competent teachers,” stated the March 27 DepEd Order issued by Education Secretary Armin Luistro.

"One of the primary issues the Department aims to address through its comprehensive implementation of the K to 12 Basic Education Program is the need for highly competent teachers in public elementary and secondary schools," stated part of the "Hiring Guidelines for Teacher I Positions for School Year 2015-2016."

Also, Degamo said that the slots for Teacher I or new teachers are for elementary and high school positions and not for the senior high school level, or for Grades 11 and 12, yet.

“It will depend on how we will divide the teachers’ items since we will prioritize those who have an increase of enrolled students or if there has been a number of teachers who retired in a certain school,” he told The FREEMAN, in a telephone interview.

Meanwhile, DepEd-7 projected around1.8 million students would flock the public schools in Central Visayas today, the official start of classes.

Private schools are allowed to deviate from the required DepEd school calendar, but are not allowed to start classes earlier than the first Monday of June and not later than the last day of August.

Degamo said that of the figure, 1.2 million are elementary school students while the remaining 600,000 are secondary level students.

He said the number is way higher than the previous school year, which saw over a million students for the elementary level and around 500,000 students for the secondary level.

Despite the increasing number of students, he assured that there is sufficient number of teachers for Central Visayas since they accommodated so-called substitute teachers, or those who temporarily take charge of classes while the vacant positions are not yet filled up.

Degamo, though, admitted that while the ideal ratio is one teacher for every 40 students, public schools, particularly those situated in highly urbanized cities like Cebu City, currently have one teacher for at least 50 students, which shows that there is a still for additional “competent” teachers.