The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it has approved the creation of 5,000 non-teaching positions in various Department of Education (DepEd) schools nationwide to alleviate the workload of public school teachers.
The DBM explained that the approval was in response to the growing needs of public schools as well as in line with the DepEd’s education roadmap.
“Under the leadership of our Vice President and concurrent DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte, nag-release po ang DepEd ng roadmap—the MATATAG Agenda. Makikita doon pati ang mga kailangang tugunan natin in terms of buildings, teachers, facilities, etc. Nakalatag po lahat sa kanilang roadmap. So, we just want to be consistent with that,” Budget Secretary Amenah F. Pangandaman said on Wednesday.
The DBM said 3,500 of the newly created non-teaching items would be administrative officer (AO) II positions that are intended to relieve teachers of administrative tasks that support operations.
The remaining 1,500 items would be Project Development Officer (PDO) I, which are complementary to the AO II and other non-teaching personnel. The PDO would help in implementing various programs, projects and activities initiated by schools or mandated by the DepEd Central Office, according to the DBM.
“This will be a great help to unload our teachers with administrative work so that they can focus on teaching the students. By hiring non-teaching staff, our educators will be able to save a lot of time and effort,” Pangandaman said.
The DBM said the new items will be deployed in various Schools Division Offices (SDOs) in the following regions: Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Caraga Region, National Capital Region (NCR), Regions I, II, III, IV-A, IV-B, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XII.
“The appropriate funding requirements for the filled positions out of said created positions shall be charged against the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund [MPBF] in the FY [fiscal year] 2023 General Appropriations Act [GAA], while the Retirement and Life Insurance Premium is chargeable against Automatic Appropriations,” the DBM added.
The DBM noted that the easing of public school teachers’ workload is part of President Marcos Jr.’s campaign promises.
Image credits: Official Gazette