SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian lamented the nationwide shortage of more than 7,000 special needs education (SNED) teachers in public schools.

During an oversight review of Republic Act No. 11650, also known as the Inclusive Education Act, Gatchalian highlighted that there is an estimated shortfall of 7,651 SNED teachers based on public school enrollment for School Year 2023-2024.

To date, there are only 5,147 SNED teachers, while 323,344 learners with disabilities aged 2 to 17 are enrolled for SY 2023-2024.

“One of the challenges in implementing inclusive education is the supply of qualified teachers. The intention is to address the supply issues in terms of teachers with knowledge in special needs education,” Gatchalian said.

The lawmaker urged the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education to collaborate closely to ensure the availability of qualified SNED teachers.

Republic Act No. 11650 institutes a policy of inclusion in all public and private early and basic education schools. These schools are mandated to ensure that all learners with disabilities have equitable access to quality education, with no learner denied admission due to disability.

The law also aims to train and equip teachers and school personnel for the care, development, and education of learners with disabilities.

Under the law, the DepEd is mandated to work with the CHED to include updated courses on inclusive education in bachelor of elementary or secondary education programs.

Additionally, the law provides for a scholarship program for in-service teachers pursuing master’s degrees in special needs education or related courses. Grantees must fulfill a return service obligation within the DepEd.

“The reason why we wanted to come up with a scholarship program is precisely to address the shortfall, because moving forward, as we encourage more parents to send their children to school and as we implement the Child-Find System, we will see an uptick in enrollment and we have to make sure that we have teachers who are trained in special needs education,” said Gatchalian, sponsor and co-author of Republic Act No. 11650.