SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian renewed Wednesday his call to the Department of Education (DepEd) to hasten the hiring of new teachers.
This comes following the approval by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) of more than 32,000 new teaching positions for school year 2026-2027.
Under the 2026 national budget, the government allocated P42.4 billion for the hiring of 32,916 teaching positions nationwide. Of the total number, 32,047 positions are classified as Teacher I items, aimed at strengthening the country’s public school workforce and easing classroom congestion.
Gatchalian emphasized that while the creation of additional teaching positions is a major step toward improving the education sector, delays in the recruitment process continue to hamper efforts to address learning gaps and classroom shortages.
During previous national budget deliberations, the senator said that DepEd’s hiring process could take as long as six months because of coordination requirements involving other government agencies, including the DBM and the Civil Service Commission.
To address delays in recruitment and deployment, DepEd earlier issued DepEd Order 021, series of 2024, which seeks to ensure the timely and efficient filling of vacant teaching positions across public schools.
“The education crisis cannot be addressed if there is a shortage of teachers who shape the future of our youth. When our schools are short of teachers, what is directly affected is the quality of learning for each student,” Gatchalian said.
The senator has consistently pushed for reforms in the education sector, particularly measures aimed at reducing classroom overcrowding, improving teacher welfare, and addressing learning poverty among Filipino students.
Education advocates have long emphasized that the lack of teachers contributes to larger class sizes, heavier workloads for educators, and limited individualized instruction for students, especially in underserved and rural communities.
