SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Education to hire more teachers to fill up thousands of vacant posts.

The Department of Education is seeking an additional P2.58 billion budget for 2022 to hire 10,000 teachers.

The department has more than 30,000 teaching positions to fill.

According to the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department, 71 percent of DepEd’s 46,901 unfilled positions are for teachers.

This is equivalent to 33,260 unfilled teaching positions of which 16,460 are for Teacher I posts.

DepEd officials said that the hiring process usually takes six months and involves the Department of Budget and Management and the Civil Service Commission.

Because of Covid19 restrictions and the imposition of an alternative work arrangement, the agency also had to work on the hiring process with a limited number of staff.

“The positions left unfilled could equate to P13 billion in funds that are not being disbursed. This had been a recurring issue. I remember some senators, including myself, flagged this also last year and the year before that. We have to, once and for all, find ways to reduce the six-month turn-around time somehow,” Gatchalian said.

To help reduce barriers in filling Teacher I positions, Undersecretary Wilfredo Cabral shared that the agency is considering accepting applicants who have no prior experience, similar to other entry-level positions.

For Fiscal Year 2020, P1.82 billion was allocated for the creation of 10,000 teaching positions.