THE DEPARTMENT of Budget and Management  has completed the approval of 20,000 new teaching positions requested by the Department of Education  for 2025—marking a significant step in bolstering the country’s teaching workforce.

DBM Secretary Amenah Pangandaman confirmed the approval of the final batch of 4,000 new Teacher I (Salary Grade 11) positions. This follows the earlier approval of 16,000 positions last month.

“So now, the 20,000 requested items by DepEd for 2025 are complete,” Pangandaman said.

The newly approved positions will be distributed as follows: 1,658 for kindergarten and elementary, 391 for junior high school, and 1,951 for senior high school. These will be deployed for School Year 2025–2026.

Pangandaman said the initiative aligns with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directive to increase the number of teachers and improve the quality of education by ensuring students receive more focused attention.

“This is still part of the President’s goal to increase the number of teachers and ensure better attention to students. He said all agencies must work together, especially with the reopening of classes nationwide,” she added.

Funding for the new positions will come from DepEd’s Built-in Appropriations under the Fiscal Year 2025 General Appropriations Act, specifically through the New School Personnel Positions program.

In addition, the DBM earlier approved 10,000 non-teaching positions for DepEd in April 2025 to help reduce administrative workloads on teachers and allow them to focus more on classroom instruction.

The Marcos administration has made strengthening basic education a priority, particularly with the return to full face-to-face learning and efforts to recover from pandemic-related learning losses.

By expanding the teacher workforce, the government aims to ensure more manageable class sizes and better support for both students and educators.