Some 2,778 non-teaching personnel have been hired by the government as part of its effort to remove additional paper work from public school teachers, the Department of Education (DepEd) regional office here said Tuesday.

The hiring of administrative officers is part of the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to free teachers from administrative tasks, said DepEd Eastern Visayas Regional Director Evelyn Fetalvero during the “Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas” press briefing at the agency’s regional office here.

“Hiring more administrative personnel will enable teachers to maximize their time in actual classroom teaching. Ideally, there should be one administrative for every school,” Fetalvero said.

This academic year, the region has 4,179 public elementary and secondary schools.

Of the 2,778 hired workers since 2020, some 1,280 of them are regular employees, and 1,498 are under contract of service. These include the 842 regular administrative officers hired this year.

Nationwide, the target is to hire 5,000 administrative officer II positions this year with a PHP27,000 monthly starting salary.

Included in the administrative tasks removed from teachers are personnel administration, property or physical facility custodianship, general administrative support, financial management, records management, feeding, school disaster risk reduction, and management, among others. (PNA)