(MANILA BULLETIN)

In a bid to raise the teaching standards of basic education in the country, the Department of Education (DepEd) said on Monday, Dec. 11, that it will release a policy “in the next few weeks” to remove administrative tasks from teachers. 

DepEd’s Bureau of Human Resource and Organization Development (BHROD) Director Mario Bermudez told solons in a House Committee on Basic Education and Culture hearing that this is regarded as a “high-impact policy”. 

“The main purpose of this policy, is that we have to give support to our teachers to teach better and get out from those administrative tasks being done, kasi marami pong mga teachers talaga ang ina-assign (because many teachers are assigned) to do administrative tasks,” said Bermudez. 

“This is to maximize the role of teachers concentrating teaching inside the classroom. So ipapalabas po natin na aalisin yung administrative tasks na ginagawa karaniwan ng mga teacher natin,” he added. 

(So we are going to release the administrative tasks that our teachers usually do to be removed.) 

Teachers have long complained over these non-teaching tasks, which include record-keeping, filing, event management, and extracurricular activities. 

In this soon-to-be-released policy, the DepEd shall lobby for the hiring of non-teaching personnel from local government units (LGUs) to handle these administrative tasks. 

Bermudez notes that DepEd is eyeing the creation of 5,000 non-teaching positions, which will consist of Administrative Officer II and Project Development Officer I. 

In July 2023, the DepEd also announced it would issue guidelines reducing the administrative tasks of teachers amid reports of excessive workload and hours. --Dexter Barro II