DepEd has tried to keep teachers’ pay attractive amid inflation. Why has this not solved staff shortages?

March 29, 2023 | 5:10pm

MANILA, Philippines — Even if the Department of Education commits to hiring 30,000 additional public school teachers this year to address classroom congestion as a teachers’ group suggests, data shows the agency has struggled to fill vacant teaching positions despite pay hikes.

A Philstar.com analysis shows that the government has generally tried to keep entry-level teachers’ annual salary increases attractive despite soaring inflation.

But from 2019 to 2021 — the three years where Teacher 1 salaries consistently kept pace with the rising cost of goods — DepEd could only meet little more than half of its target number of new teachers hired.

In 2021, for instance, salary for entry-level teachers rose by 7% or from P22,316 to P23,877. Th