Manila: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Monday reaffirmed his administration's commitment to improving the welfare of public school teachers, highlighting lighter workloads, better compensation, and expanded career opportunities. In his fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), Marcos underscored that teachers remain at the heart of the education system.
According to Philippines News Agency, nearly 100 administrative tasks were removed from teachers' workload, the President said. The Department of Education (DepEd) earlier reported that teachers' workload was cut by 57 percent. To further reduce paperwork, Marcos said remaining forms will be digitized for online submission through the teachers' new laptops. 'Gagawin na din nating digital ang mga natitira pang papel na kailangan ninyong asikasuhin. Para puwede na ninyo itong gawin online-diretso na mula sa inyong mga bagong laptop (We will make the remaining papers that you need to comply digital. So that you can directly send it online through your new laptops)!' Marcos said.
The Chief Executive also vowed that starting this school year, public school teachers will receive payment for teaching overload and overtime hours. 'Ngayong school year na ito, makakatanggap na kayo ng kabayaran para sa inyong teaching overload at para sa inyong (Starting this school year, you will receive pay for your teaching overload and for your) overtime,' he added. Additionally, the non-taxable teaching supplies allowance has been doubled to PHP10,000, providing extra support for classroom needs.
The President also announced the creation of 60,000 teaching positions to reduce class sizes and workloads, while enhancing the quality of instruction. To support long-term growth, the DepEd has earlier said that it will launch the Teacher Education Excellence Center (TEEC) in late 2025, offering evidence-based training and development programs. As of now, over 97 percent of the 22,000 newly created teaching positions and 99 percent of the 5,000 administrative roles have been filled.
Promotions for more than 2,100 school heads are also underway as part of the "one school, one principal" goal, along with the creation of new teaching ranks from Teacher IV to VII.
