Teacher discussing with a pupil in a school. ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA — Just a day after the results of 2025 Licensure Exam for Teachers were released, a group called on the Department of Education to speed up the hiring of 16,000 new teaching personnel before school resumes on June 16.

In an interview on Teleradyo Serbisyo, ACT Teachers National Chairperson Vladimir Quetua said while they welcome the new teaching slots, the country actually needs to hire more than 100,000 more to reach a better class ratio.

"Wine-welcome natin 'yan kasi napakalaki talaga ng kakulangan ng Department of Education — particularly pa lang po sa pagtuturo pa lang 'yan 'no," he stressed.

(We welcome it since the Department of Education has a lot of shortage — particularly in teaching.)

DepEd announced earlier this week it would hire 16,000 new teachers until the end of third quarter this year.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara explained that the new items, which are part of 20,000 teaching slots created under 2025 General Appropriations Act, seek to "directly respond to [President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s] call to reduce class sizes and lighten workload" of teachers.

ONE TEACHER, MORE THAN 80 STUDENTS

Quetia said the Philippines needs to spend more on education and hire even more teachers to meet international standards.

"Imagine kung nagtuturo ka ng 83 [students], pagtatawag pa lang ng pangalan e, kukulangin na. Paano pa 'yung ibang gawain sa pagtuturo?" he added.

(Imagine you're teaching 83 students, it will be difficult to even just call their names. How much more on the other teaching tasks?)

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"Kung 'di ako nagkakamali, particular sa Quezon City, meron d'yan nagsa-Saturday classes dahil sa kakulangan ng teacher at classroom," Quetua said, adding some classes have up to 70 pupils.

(If I'm not mistaken, particularly in Quezon City, there are those who attend Saturday classes due to the shortage of teachers and classrooms.)

The education sector has been catching-up since the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) revealed that 15-year-old Filipino students lagged in math, science, reading and creative thinking.

Aside from curriculum changes, DepEd has acknowledged the need to address classroom and teacher backlogs.

'HIRING TAKES TOO LONG'

As school opening in June 16 looms, Quetua worries that the recruitment of the 16,000 teachers would take too long.

"Sa katunayan kahit ako po, partikular po sarili ko, ako'y nag-demo ng Marso, ako'y tatawagan Agosto, pero ako'y magha-hire, magkakaroon ng plantilla position ng September," he said.

(In fact, even in my own experience, I did my teaching demo in March, I got a call in August, but I was only officially hired and given a plantilla position in September. This is why we’re calling on the Department of Budget and Management and DepEd to urgently open the 16,000 to 20,000 new slots.)

He said ACT Teachers hope schools can get at least 4,000 new educators by June.

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The group said education programs produce enough potential teachers but many go abroad or pursue other careers due to a lack of plantilla positions.

The group is also urging the winners of midterm elections 2025 to prioritize teachers' welfare.

REVISED SENIOR HIGH CURRICULUM

DepEd will roll out a pilot study of a strengthened Senior High School (SHS) Program in 727 schools come school year 2025-2026, where 15 core subjects will be trimmed down to five proposed core subjects.

These are Effective Communication, Life Skills, General Mathematics, General Science, and Pag-aaral ng Kasaysayan at Lipunang Pilipino.

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While ACT Teachers sees the subject changes positively, it said the problem on lack of educational materials persists.

Quetua said his students in senior high schools did not have access to books and modules.

"Talagang umasa po kami karamihan sa social media," he said.

(Most of us really have to rely on social media.)