The number of teaching, teaching-related and non-teaching personnel in the country's public schools dwindled by 38,463 from 1,016,066 in 2022 to 977,603 in 2023.
Despite the reduced number of teaching personnel, the Commission on Audit (COA) said its state auditors recorded an increase in the total salaries and wages of regular, contractual, and substitute teachers in 2023.
From a total of P345,080,443,178.53 spent in 2022, the disbursements increased to P374,551,166,550.15 in 2023 or an 8.5 percent increase, it said.
In the executive summary of its 2023 annual report on the basic education profile of the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Audit (COA) said that out the 977,603 personnel, 858,318 are teaching personnel, 54,827 are teaching-related personnel, and 64,458 are non-teaching personnel.
The COA also said that out of the 1,016,066 personnel in 2022, there were 879,793 teaching personnel, 63,610 teaching-related personnel, and 72,663 non-teaching personnel.
In the Budget Accountability Report No. 1 (BAR No. 1) titled FY 2023 Quarterly Physical Report of Operation submitted to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) by DepEd Undersecretary for Administration Nolasco A. Mempin last April 12, the department lamented that "the ongoing hiring process has been faced with certain factors that are beyond control."
These factors, DepEd said, included the shortage of more qualified applicants with specific specializations in Junior High School (JHS) and Senior High School (SHS), as well as the election ban that delayed the filling-up of newly created Teacher 1 positions.
"Despite our efforts to address these issues, the uncontrollable nature of these factors has contributed to the delay in the hiring process and the resulting underperformance in some regions," the DepEd said.
At the same time, both the DepEd and Department of Migrant Works (DMW) are currently looking into the implementation of the Sa Pinas Ikaw ang Ma'am at Sir (SPIMS) program, which seeks to help overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) reintegrate into the country, particularly those who passed the Licensure Exam for Teachers (LET) so they can work as teachers in Philippine public schools.