THE Department of Education (DepEd) has cut the number of forms public school teachers have to fill up, from 174 to five, to give them more time to devote to actual teaching in the classroom.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara said the department has streamlined school forms and cut down paperwork requirements by 57 percent under DepEd Order No. 06, Series of 2025.
Under the said order, from the 174 school forms previously required of teachers, only five forms will be regularly completed by all teachers, while they can still accomplish 31 forms for teacher ancillary tasks and 39 forms for teaching-related assignments.
Angara said this may still vary depending on the agreed-upon designations of teachers by virtue of their rationalized workload.
“We’re clearing the runway so teachers can fly. This move is a declaration that meaningful learning and teacher well-being go hand in hand,” Angara said.
“We have reduced the workload of teachers. We are giving them more time, energy, and the heart to teach. For every teacher whose workload is reduced, there is a child who will learn more,” Angara added.
The DepEd chief said that in place of forms and compliance checklists, time returned to teachers gives them more time to plan, prepare, and most importantly, teach.
The move was partly a product of a study conducted by the DepEd Technical Working Group on school forms that Angara said revealed that teachers spend excessive hours on non-teaching tasks, including filing out school forms and reports, reducing the time available for lesson planning, student engagement, and instructional activities.
The Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM2) earlier said its study found that two out of three public school teachers in the country work beyond their 40-hour workweek, largely due to administrative tasks.
Last year, the department issued DepEd Order No. 002 removing administrative tasks from teachers, enabling them to maximize their time for actual classroom teaching.
In March this year, Angara said the DepEd is set to renew and hire more than 7,000 administrative support staff to ease the workload of public school teachers.
The 2025 General Appropriations Act has authorized the creation of 10,000 positions for administrative officers and support staff in the DepEd.
