Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte says the Marcos government's hiring of 16,000 new teachers will ease the extreme workload of teachers in public schools as well as mitigate the problem of overcrowded classrooms
“Praise God for this good news for the public schools under the Department of Education (DepEd), said Villafuerte, the outgoing congressman and governor-elect of Camarines Sur, in a recent post on his Facebook.
“Matagal natin pinaglalaban na madagdagan ang budget to hire additional teaching personnel sa ating mga public schools (We have long been advocating for an increased budget to hire additional teaching personnel in our public schools under) in the ALS (Alternative Learning System), kindergarten, elementary and high school levels, aside from the increase in their monthly pay and the need to increase the budget for public school infrastructure,” said the three-term solon.
“Slowly and surely, we will be able to improve and modernize our public education system,” Villafuerte added, as he praised President Marcos and Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the move, the benefits of which would be felt in time for school year (SY) 2025-2026.
These new positions represent 80 percent of the DBM-approved 20,000 new teaching positions for this year.
Some 27 million students were enrolled in the primary and secondary schools nationwide in SY 2024-2025, including students from both public and private schools, and those in the ALS.
To make sure that all 16,000 new positions are filled up soon enough, Villafuerte backed the directive for all Schools Division Offices (SDOs) to immediately publish the Notices of Organization, Staffing and Compensation Action (NOSCA) upon receipt of these NOSCAs from the DBM regional offices, so they can begin the process of hiring and appointing the incoming teachers.
The NOSCA outlines the approved staffing and compensation structure for a specific agency. In the case of the DepEd, the NOSCA authorizes the creation of new positions within this department.
Villafuerte said these newly-created positions for 16,000 teachers will boost the DepEd's efforts to augment the government’s teaching workforce across the board, from Kindergarten to Junior High School (JHS) and Senior High School (SHS), as well as in the ALS.
The approved new teacher posts are composed of 15,343 Teacher I with Salary Grade (SG) 11 for Kinder, Elementary, JHS, SHS and ALS; 157 Special Science Teachers (SST) I, with Salary Grade 13, for SHS; and 500 Special Education Teachers with Salary Grade 14 for Kinder, Elem and JHS.
These new teaching positions will also address the need for educators with appropriate specializations, particularly in the kindergarten and elementary levels, as well as in subject-specific areas in JHS and SHS.
By augmenting the teaching workforce, Villafuerte says the DepEd can improve teacher-student ratios and optimize class sizes, which are crucial to upgrading learning outcomes.