Senator Win Gatchalian on Wednesday pressed the Department of Education (DepEd) to fast-track its recruitment process to urgently combat the country’s worsening educator shortage.
The call to action follows the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) approval to create over 32,000 new teaching positions for School Year 2026-2027. Under the 2026 national budget, a total of ₱42.4 billion has been earmarked to fund 32,916 teaching slots, which includes 32,047 Teacher I positions.
Gatchalian pointed out that past budget deliberations highlighted deep-seated inefficiencies in DepEd’s hiring pipeline. Bureaucratic hurdles and coordination requirements with external agencies, such as the DBM and the Civil Service Commission (CSC), often stretch the recruitment timeline up to six months.
The lawmaker stressed that prolonged vacancies directly undermine the quality of Philippine education.
“Hindi matutugunan ang krisis sa edukasyon kung kulang ang mga gurong humuhubog sa kinabukasan ng ating mga kabataan,” Gatchalian said.
(The crisis in education will not be solved if we lack the teachers who shape the future of our youth.)
“Kapag kapos sa guro ang ating mga paaralan, ang direktang naaapektuhan ay ang kalidad ng pagkatuto ng bawat mag-aaral,” he added.
(When our schools are short on teachers, the quality of learning for every student is directly affected.)
Data from DepEd reveals that the Philippines is currently grappling with a nationwide deficit of more than 56,999 teachers.