After 2-year delay, DepEd creates new teaching positions to expedite promotions

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education has formalized the creation of new teaching positions to address bottlenecks in promoting public school teachers, finally implementing an executive order issued in 2022 that introduced the expanded career progression system.

DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara on Friday led the signing ceremony for the issuance of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Executive Order (EO) 174 — a move teacher groups say is long awaited after funding issues delayed the IRR for two years.

EO 174 expands DepEd's teaching ranks beyond the current Teacher I, II, and III and adds three new positions up to Teacher VII. It also creates new positions for Master Teacher V and streamlines the positions of School Principal I to IV.

The 2022 order also allows public school teachers to pursue either a teaching or administrative track as they get higher positions, which was previously only limited to administrative roles.

Angara earlier vowed to address the slow promotion of public school teachers after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that the government has now allotted enough funds to implement the career progression system in his third State of the Nation Address.

The newly installed Education secretary said that teachers "get pirated for better opportunities because it takes some time for them to be promoted."

"This one gives them something to look forward to a career track... It's something which will encourage and incentivize our teachers," he said.

Angara on Friday said the DepEd is also working on reinforcing its reclassification process to ensure teachers are promoted based on merit and competency instead of vacancies.

DepEd will also coordinate with the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to standardize qualifications for teaching positions across all levels of basic education, including senior high school.

EO 174, which was signed June 23, 2022 under then-President Rodrigo Duterte, mandated DepEd, PRC, CSC and the Department of Budget and Management to jointly formulate and issue its IRR by September of that year.

In separate statements, teacher groups Teachers Dignity Coalition