DepEd to remove administrative tasks of teachers

THE Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday said it will remove non-teaching tasks of teachers and continue advocating for more benefits and better pay for them.

“We will remove non-teaching tasks and provide administrative officers in schools. We will provide adequate manpower complement in schools, manage teachers’ workload, and compensate teachers for unique school challenges,” Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte was quoted as saying in a press release posted by DepEd on its website.

In her Basic Education Report 2023 on January 30, Duterte said the role of teachers is key to addressing the wide learning gap among a large number of Filipino students. In it, she acknowledged the slow training of teachers and that educators are also victims of a “failed” education system.

“This is a system that burdens them with backbreaking and time-consuming administrative tasks, a system that provides no adequate support and robs them of the opportunity to professionally grow and professionally teach, assist, and guide our learners,” Duterte said.

“Our teachers must return to our classrooms, and they must teach,” she added in her report.

Duterte vowed to champion their welfare and development through the DepEd’s Matatag: Bansang Makabata, Batang Makabansa.

“Teachers are critical to the success of education. When they are supported, education quality improves,” she said.

Duterte added that the DepEd will continuously advocate for additional benefits for teachers, by means of addressing the issue affecting their net take-home pay.

She said the agency would implement a policy on the distribution of workload and payment for teaching overload.

The Education department will seek the Department of Budget and Management to expand the Special Hardship Allowances coverage and will coordinate with the Government Service Insurance System for an “improved benefits package” for all teaching personnel, Duterte said.

“We also recognize your sacrifices. We thank you for your sacrifices,” Duterte thanked the teachers.

Matatag to revitalize K to 12

Meanwhile, Duterte’s Matatag program will also revitalize three subjects under the K to 12 educational system.

The vice president and Education chief said the DepEd will revitalize Reading, Science and Technology, and Mathematics as part of this agenda.

“We will revise the K to 12 curriculum to make [it] more responsive to our aspiration as a nation, to develop lifelong learners who are imbued with 21st-century skills, discipline and patriotism,” Duterte was quoted as saying in another DepEd press release.

“We will reduce the number of learning areas in K to 3 from 7 to 5 to focus on foundational skills in literacy and numeracy in the early grades, particularly among disadvantaged students.”

Peace competencies will also be included in the curriculum.

“We will integrate ‘peace competencies’ such as social awareness, responsibility, care for the environment, value for diversity, self-esteem, positive character resilience and human security into the various learning areas of the K to 12 curriculum,” Duterte said.

The DepEd is finalizing a review of the curriculum from K to 10, as well as the senior high school curriculum.