GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/02 June) — The Department of Education (DepEd) in Region 12 is targeting to complete within the week the hiring of an additional 1,872 teachers for various public elementary and secondary schools in the region.
Dr. Allan Farnazo, DepEd Region 12 director, said they are currently fast tracking the hiring process to ensure that the teachers would be able to report to their posts by next week.
He said they are currently working on the release of the appointments of the 1,872 teachers that is the quota allotted by the agency for the region this year.
“The hiring processes are currently ongoing but we’re working double time to complete them within the week,” he said.
Farnazo said the hiring of the new teachers for the area was delayed, as DepEd Order No.7, series of 2015, or the hiring guidelines for Teacher I positions for school year 2015-2016, only came out last April.
The order, which was issued by Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, was dated March 27 but only released to the regional offices last April.
Citing the guidelines, Farnazo assured that the agency would hire the most qualified and competent teachers.
“We believe that the achievement of quality basic education relies on the hiring of competent teachers,” he said.
The issuance of the guidelines, Farnazo said, was aimed to integrate and further institutionalize the primary objective of the flagship K to 12 basic education program “to enhance the overall quality of basic education in the country by hiring highly-competent teachers.”
“It also seeks to uphold the department’s mandate under the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, improve public school teachers’ employment and career opportunities as well as to attract more people with proper qualifications to the teaching profession,” he said.
The official said they expect to receive additional hiring quota for new teachers next year as the region begins the full implementation of the K to 12 program.
The K to 12 program, which was first implemented by DepEd in 2012, provided an additional two years to the country’s basic education program.
It covers Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education, comprising six years of primary education, four years of junior high school and two years of senior high school. (MindaNews)