53,000 teaching, nonteaching staff to lose jobs over 5 years with K to 12, House panel told

MANILA – Some 39,000 teachers and 14,000 non-teaching acedemic personnel will lose their jobs over a span of five years in the “worst case scenario” as the Department of Education fully implements the K to 12 education program, DepEd Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro said Wednesday.

But, Luistro pointed out, the numbers were “very manageable” as the DepEd expects to hire around 30,000 teachers by 2106, when the first batch of high school students enter Grade 11 instead of proceeding to college.

“There will be unfilled posts, …and based on estimates, we will need around 30,000 teachers for Grade 11 and another 30,000 for the succeeding year,” he explained at a hearing of the Committee on Basic and Higher Education at the House of Representatives.

He also stressed that not all of the estimated number of teachers who will lose jobs would be permanently displaced. The Commission on Higher Education will help those temporarily displaced by giving them scholarships.

At the hearing, Pasig Representative Roman Romulo, chairperson of the higher and technical education committee, raised concern about the delayed completion of the needed 34,000 classrooms for the roll-out of K to 12.

Luistro acknowledged there were backlogs, but added that the department was working double time to complete the needed infrastructure.

“Our message is, we are at the last mile. . . .in a few years, we will see our senior high school. Our goal is to show in the next quarter of the year that we can finish what we have not accomplished in 2014,” he added.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said he was optimistic that DepEd was on track in the implementation of the K to 12 program. “Whatever our reservations are, it behooves us to support K to 12,” he said.

The K to 12 became national policy upon the enactment of Republic Act 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 on June 8, 2013.

K to 12 has kindergarten as the base, to be followed by six years of elementary (Grades 1 to 6), four years of junior high school (Grades 7 to 10), and two years of senior high school (Grades 11 and 12).

Students who turned Grade 7 in 2012 will be the first batch to graduate from junior high school in 2016, and if they decide to pursue higher studies, will graduate from senior high in 2018.

The students of senior high school may choose to specialize from among the four applied track subjects — academic, sports, arts and technical vocational/livelihood.

According to Luistro, there are 24 million students enrolled in public and private schools. In two years, the department estimates an enrolment of 27 million.

For the academic year 2016-2017, there are an estimated 1.2 million to 1.6 million students who will enter Grade 11, and the same number are expected for the academic year 2017-2018.

Of the 1.2 million, around 800,000 students can be accommodated in DepEd schools, and the remaining 400,000 will go to non-DepEd schools like state universities and colleges and local universities and colleges. -Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, InterAksyon.com