Over 20,000 Teacher Posts Remain Unfilled in DepEd
DEPED – More than 20,000 teaching positions at the Department of Education (DepEd) remain unfilled, according to Davao de Oro Rep. Maricar Zamora during the House plenary deliberations on the agency’s proposed budget for 2027.
Zamora, who serves as the budget sponsor for DepEd, provided the figures after ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio sought clarification on the status of vacant teaching posts.
She explained that the department established more than 31,000 positions under the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA). Of these, over 22,700 teaching positions had already been filled as of June 30, 2026.
“Out of the 31,428 positions, 22,711 positions are filled, which leaves 8,688 unfilled positions as of June 30, 2026 data. Previous years also had a total of 12,646 unfilled positions,” Zamora counted.
Combining the vacancies from the current and previous years, Zamora said the department still has roughly 20,000 teaching posts waiting to be filled.
“In total, we have around 20,000 unfilled positions, based on June 30, 2026 data,” she added the two periods.
Tinio questioned why a significant number of teaching positions remain vacant despite the availability of registered and qualified applicants seeking employment in public schools.
Zamora cited several factors behind the delays, including the presence of “hard-to-fill positions.” She also pointed to instances involving the waiving of beneficiaries under special hiring guidelines and the shortage of applicants qualified for certain specializations.
Apart from teaching posts, DepEd also continues to have vacant positions for non-teaching personnel, although Zamora did not provide an exact number during the discussion.
The issue of future teacher hiring also surfaced during the deliberations. Tinio recalled DepEd’s earlier presentation during the House committee appropriations briefing, where Education Secretary Sonny Angara said there was no allocation for hiring additional teachers in the proposed 2027 budget.
Angara previously identified teacher hiring as part of DepEd’s requested additional funding of P49.1 billion under its “personnel improvement” program. The proposal includes P4.2 billion intended for the hiring of 14,274 teachers.
When Tinio asked whether the department would seek additional items to maintain its teacher recruitment efforts, Zamora assured lawmakers that hiring would continue.
“This is because the allocation, the appropriation given to the department from the GAA 2026, is still being implemented starting this year, and the hiring will continue until next year,” she explained.
“Therefore, there is no such thing as we stopped the hiring, but we are still hiring as we speak,” Zamora said.
Meanwhile, Tinio also raised concerns about the P12-billion allocation proposed for the expanded career progression program, which aims to promote 135,000 teachers. He noted the existing backlog and the expected additional applicants next year.
“If only the department had its way, the department would give what it’s due to everyone. But considering the limited resources, the department proposes a more realistic amount,” Zamora told Tinio.
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