A total of 1,638 Senior High School teachers can heave a sigh of relief after the Civil Service Commission has granted the request of the Department of Education (DepEd) to renew their provisional appointments for another school year (SY).
These teachers were hired in SY 2016-2017 and their contracts, which expired on May 31, were renewed for SY 2021-2022, in light of the postponement of the 2020 Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (LEPT).
“The affected provisional SHS teachers will receive priority status for the 2021 LEPT scheduled for September, as granted by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC),” the DepEd posted on their official Facebook page.
Earlier, the The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) has appealed to DepEd to extend the service of these teachers.
Benjo Basas, the group’s national chairperson, said that these teachers were hired on probationary status since 2016 who either failed to secure a teaching license or were not able to take the licensure examination under a provision of K-12 Law.
“These colleagues have consistently performed satisfactory to excellent tasks as evidenced by their continuous rehiring up to the present school year. They have contributed greatly to the success of DepEd’s Senior High School program as pioneers in spite of the system’s challenges due to birth pains and thus, are considered assets of the Department,” Basas said stressing also that “unavoidable circumstances” due to the pandemic hampered the teachers’ pursuit of a professional teaching license, a requirement for their adoption as permanent teachers.
Basas wrote separate letters to the DepEd, Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) and the CSC to formally appeal to consider the extension of the teachers’ service to the DepEd.
“Despite their dedication and service, the Covid19 pandemic prevented them from pursuing the licensure requirement set forth by law. It is a known fact the Professional Regulations Commission has suspended the licensure examination for teachers in year 2020 and will only resume the said examination this coming September,” Basas added.
He noted that the conduct of examination schedule last March 2020 as well the one set on March of this year have been suspended.
The TDC said that this policy could be felt terribly on the ground and could further obstruct the services of many schools offering senior high school program like in the case of a school in Aurora province where the ‘last mile schools’ or those schools that extremely needing support are located.