ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro has filed a bill addressing the shortage of principals in public schools.

House Bill 11432, or the proposed One School, One Principal Act, cites the year-two report of the Second Congressional Commission on Education, which reveals a significant gap in the Philippine education system.

The report showed that only 20,381 out of 45,199 public schools have principals; and of those, only 18,722 hold the corresponding plantilla item.

Castro attributed  the shortage to government policies on filling principal positions. Another factor is the Department of Education’s clustering policy, which groups small schools together and often doesn’t assign a dedicated principal to each.

“This clustering policy is an austerity measure that prioritizes cost-cutting over the welfare of educators and the quality of education,” Castro said.

She added, “Without proper leadership, who will support teachers in their work?”

The bill seeks to remedy this by mandating a qualified principal for every school in the country. The proposed measure also aims to reform principal qualification standards, ensuring that positions are filled and school leaders are properly trained to manage their institutions.