TWO weeks from now, school year 2022-2023 will open, and schools will gradually return to in-person or face-to-face classes. The pronouncement of the Department of Education (DepEd) that it will hire more non-teaching personnel to relieve teachers of administrative tasks is most welcome as this will make teachers focus on their teaching job.
For so long, we have had clinic teachers, teacher-librarians, teacher-clerks, canteen teachers, feeding teachers, registrar teachers, teacher-guidance counselors, teacher nutritionists, property custodian teachers, and many other tasks shouldered by teachers due to the lack of education support personnel hired by our government. Hiring enough education support personnel per school for these specific and specialized tasks will allow teachers to concentrate and prepare for their classes.
It is fervently hope that DepEd will be able to hire education support personnel and not fall behind on the promise. Every year teachers go beyond their primary task of teaching. Frankly, they are buried in a mountain of non-teaching work to fully deliver services to their students – nutrition, inventory of learning materials and teaching supplies, even the medical needs of students. Sadly, teachers who do extra work or work beyond the days they are scheduled to work often end up being paid just a “thank you”.
It is time for the Department of Education to correct this wrong practice. There should be enough education support personnel in every school in our country.
We hope that the Department of Education would release guidelines as to what kind of education support personnel they would hire and we hope that they would start hiring in time for the reopening of classes.
We also urge the DepEd to release guidelines, amend or repeal those existing which allow the assignments to teachers of tasks not related to teaching.
