By Merlina Hernando-Malipot  The Department of Education (DepEd) is pushing for more slots for non-teaching staff and guidance counselors in public schools nationwide to help reduce teachers’ workload. Education Secretary Leonor Briones
(DepEd / MANILA BULLETIN) In a statement, DepEd said it “continues its talks” with concerned national agencies to grant the needs for non-teaching staff and guidance counselors. In a recent meeting of the House of Representatives committee of basic education and culture, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is “favorably considering” DepEd's request for the addition of non-teaching items to its overall budget. DepEd was granted additional 5,000 non-teaching items for this year, but Briones hopes that “more slots” for administrative or technical jobs will be given to the thousands of schools that the Department is managing. "It is not enough for our 47,000 public schools but it is already, I believe, a step in the right direction," Briones said. DepEd, Briones noted, has already reduced the number of school forms needed to be filled out by teachers to 10 from the previous 36 forms after implementing simplified school forms, standardization of format, and updating and reduction of data needed in existing forms. Briones also said discussion with the DBM and Civil Service Commission (CSC) is “ongoing to ease up minimum requirements to attract more guidance counselors in the public school system.” “At this time with Generation Z and the challenges which our learners are facing from society and global developments, we really need guidance counselors,” Briones said. Briones explained that a public school guidance counselor has a “very stringent” minimum requirement - needing a master’s degree holder and a Licensure for Teachers Examination (LET) passer. However, the government “does not offer a competitive salary for practitioners” - thus creating a “problem of supply.” “We don’t have enough graduates that specialize in guidance counselling, and if they are, they are usually in the private sector because the compensation is more attractive,” Briones said. She added that DepEd has “already proposed lowering the requirements for guidance counselors” and is up for the consideration of DBM and CSC.