MANILA — Some 75,242 new teaching positions, the bulk of which are Teacher-1 level, have been created to address the lack of mentors in public schools nationwide starting school year 2018-19, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) revealed.
In a briefing Wednesday, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said about 74,886 of the new positions are for entry level while 356 are Teacher-2 level equivalent to salary grade 12 intended for the Senior High School program.
He explained that the positions for senior HS teachers were created since the government has been tapping the expertise of teachers from private schools and universities in the last two years, or since the K-12 program was implemented, to handle the initial batch of senior HS students. “Now that we have this full complement of university students coming from grades 11 and 12, we need to be at these positions,” he said.
Of the total, 40,642 Teacher-1 positions have been allocated for Kindergarten and Elementary level while 34,244 Teacher-1 positions have been created for the Junior High School program. Diokno said salaries and other benefits of the teachers to be hired would come from this year’s built-in appropriations for new school personnel positions.
He explained that the Department of Education needs to fill up these positions before the DBM can issue special allotment release order for the salaries and other compensation. Education major graduates are free to apply for these positions but they need to pass the Licensure Exam for Teachers first, he said
“That’s why there are some people who get employed first in private schools and then after they pass the standardized exam, transfer to (public schools),” Diokno added. (PNA)
