SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian yesterday urged proper authorities to immediately resolve the lack of principals in government-run basic learning institutions.
This after the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), in its Year 2 report released early this week, said that 24,916 of the country’s more than 45,000 schools have no fully-designated principals.
Gatchalian, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, said the main reasons he sees for the lack of full-time principals are the slow promotion of teachers to the post and the lack of openings created by the government for such posts.
ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS
“Ang mga dahilan dito, unang-una mabagal ang promotion ng mga teachers natin papuntang principal. Hindi sa hindi sila qualified, they’re performing, pero may mga cases na walang item. Very administrative ang problem kaya hindi tayo nagkakaroon ng principal (The reasons are, number one, the slow promotion of teachers to principals. It is not that they are not performing, but there are instances that there are no open ‘items’ for principals. The problem is very administrative that’s why we lack full-fledged principals),” he said in a virtual news conference.
He said several teachers have been appointed only as officers-in-charge or teachers-in-charge, keeping their hands tied in imposing certain policies and regulations due to a lack of proper authority.
“Hindi ka puwedeng magpalit ng teacher o hindi ka puwedeng mag-sanction ng teacher. Hindi ka puwedeng mag-discipline ng staff dahil hindi ka full-fledged principal. Kaya may problema in terms of leadership and fundamental problem ‘yan na dapat ma-resolve (They cannot change teachers, or sanction them. They cannot impose disciplinary actions on staff members because they are not full-fledged principals. Leadership problems arise and that fundamental problem should be resolved),” he added.
The EDCOM 2 said that 24,916 of the 45,199 DepEd schools nationwide do not have full-fledged principals, of which 13,332 were only headed by the teacher, 8,916 by teachers-in-charge, and 2,337 by officers-in-charge, while 193 were “undefined.”
Of the 20,381 DepEd schools with principals, EDCOM 2 said that 18,744 have plantilla items, but 1,381 were instead headed by teachers.