The Department of Education (DepED) has assured that more than 1,600 senior high school teachers, who were hired on probationary status, can continue teaching this School Year (SY) 2020-2021.
The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) has given 1,638 “provisional" teachers priority status in the 2021 Licensure Exam for Professional Teachers (LEPT), Education Secretary Leonor Briones said on Saturday, June 5.
DepEd said the teachers’ provisional appointments are set to expire by July this year.
“We are thankful to the PRC for immediately accommodating our request to include provisional SHS teachers in the first batch of examinees in this year’s LEPT. This would ensure that we have sufficient manpower to allow us to provide unhampered delivery of education services, especially during this time of health crisis,” Briones said in a statement on Saturday, June 5.
The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) had appealed to the government to consider extending the services of more than 1,000 SHS to the DepEd.
TDC national chairperson Benjo Basas said the teachers, who were hired on probationary status since 2016, were told that their last day would be on May 31, following their failure to secure a teaching license or take the licensure examination under a provision of Republic Act 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, popularly known as the K-12 Law.
Related story: https://mb.com.ph/2021/05/31/teachers-group-to-govt-please-extend-services-of-over-1k-shs-teachers/
In an advisory issued on May 28, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announced that due to the large number of examinees, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) said the Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (LEPT) will be conducted into four batches.
The first batch is set on Sept. 26, 2021 with first-time takers as a priority. The second batch is set on Jan. 30, 2022; third batch on March 27, 2022 and fourth batch on June 26, 2022.
DepEd Undersecretary for Planning, Human Resource, and Organization Development Jesse Mateo said since February, the DepEd has been exhausting all means to ensure that the services of the concerned teachers will be extended.
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He said the SHS teachers who were hired on probationary status in 2016, can still teach in SY 2020-2021.
“Due to the unavoidable circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 LEPT was postponed,” he said.
“That’s why, as early as February this year, we have been coordinating with the PRC and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to ensure that the affected provisional teachers can continue teaching in the upcoming school year,” he added.
Section 8 of Republic Act No. 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 authorizes the DepEd to hire graduates of science, mathematics, statistics, engineering, music, and other degree courses without LEPT qualifications provided that they pass the examination within five years after their date of hiring.
Mateo said they also coordinated with the CSC to address the concerns of the SHS teachers.
“Similar coordination effort with the CSC has been done. The Commission is carefully studying concerns raised to ensure unimpeded teaching services of DepED SHS provisional teachers,” he said.
DepEd noted that CSC’s revised 2018 Omnibus Rules on Appointments and Other Human Resource Actions (ORAOHRA) states that provisional appointments are issued to personnel who meet all the requirements of the position except for the eligibility but only in the absence of a qualified eligible candidate who is available and willing to accept the appointment, as certified by the Schools Division Superintendent.
“The Department remains committed to exhaust all options to ensure continued service of our SHS provisional teachers,” Mateo said.