Education Secretary Sonny Angara has announced a new department policy that will discard approximately 57 percent of the 174 school forms previously required from teachers, in the hopes of lightening their administrative workload to allow them to focus more on their students.
“Teachers have long raised concerns about excessive paperwork, and this policy directly responds to that. Reducing their bureaucratic workload will not only improve their well-being, but also enhance the quality of instruction they provide to our learners,” Angara said.
Under DepEd Order 05, Series of 2024, public school teachers will only be required to regularly complete 5 forms. However, depending on their assigned roles, they may still need to accomplish 31 forms for additional tasks and 39 for teaching-related duties.
A study by IDInsight found that 42 percent of teachers work more than 50 hours per week, spending an average of 17.8 hours on ancillary duties and 8.1 hours on program-related tasks. “Much of this time is spent on filling out school forms and reports, significantly reducing the time available for lesson planning, student engagement, and instructional activities,” the study said.
Angara added that DepEd would develop a data management framework to streamline data collection in schools, aiming to eliminate redundant and outdated information while ensuring the accurate recording of essential school management information. The agency also plans to launch advocacy campaigns to raise awareness on the reforms and engage education stakeholders in efforts to improve teachers’ working conditions.
Despite advances in technology and information technology, it is disappointing but not surprising to see that Filipino public school teachers who are already overloaded with classroom duties, still saddled with so much unnecessary paperwork. The new DepEd policy and improvements that can result in a reduction on that aspect of their workload will hopefully give our learners teachers that can dedicate more time to actual teaching and mentoring, rather than being bogged down by administrative tasks that can be replaced with technology or even just plain old common sense.
We wish the DepEd and our teachers all the best in this long overdue initiative.*
