Education Secretary Sonny Angara on Tuesday thanked President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for supporting the hiring of 16,000 additional teachers in public schools.

This is still in line with the Marcos administration’s goal to ensure quality education for learners alongside easing the workload of public school teachers.

“We thank President Marcos for his firm instruction to prioritize our teachers and learners. These new teaching items directly respond to his call to reduce class sizes and lighten the workload of our educators on the ground,” Angara said in a statement.

The new positions will help address the need for specialized and subject-specific educators from Kinder to Senior High School (SHS); improve the teacher-student ratio; and enhance learning outcomes through optimized class sizes, among others.

The deployment of the new hires is expected at the opening of the school year, with a target timeline to fill the 16,000 positions by the end of the third quarter.

The DepEd earlier requested the recruitment and deployment of 80 percent of the 20,000 teaching positions created under the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) from the DBM.

“We also extend our gratitude to Secretary Amenah Pangandaman and the DBM for acting swiftly on our request. Their support ensures that our schools will be ready to welcome more teachers before classes begin,” Angara said.

Besides the 16,000 new teaching positions, the DepEd said the DBM also commenced the issuance of the Notices of Organization, Staffing and Compensation Action (NOSCAs) for 10,000 Administrative Officer II items to help alleviate non-teaching loads of public school teachers.

To ensure there will be no delays in the hiring process, the DepEd will monitor compliance and the hiring pace in different regions.

All Schools Division Offices (SDOs) were also ordered to begin the publication, hiring, and appointment of the said items upon receipt of respective NOSCAs from DBM regional offices. (PNA)