DepEd to fill 15K principal posts amid shortage

The Department of Education (DepEd) has committed to promote and reclassify over 15,000 qualified teachers as principals starting this year in a bid to address the shortage of school heads in public schools nationwide.

DepEd said it will be deploying passers of the National Qualifying Examination for School Heads (NQESH) to fill the vacant principal positions.

As of 2024, there were 7,916 teachers who had passed the NQESH, which assesses the competency and quality of aspiring school leaders in DepEd schools.

The agency will then issue interim guidelines to ensure that principals detailed to offices return to their assigned schools. These guidelines will also facilitate the reassignment of other principal positions to schools in need.

DepEd will also reclassify 14,761 Head Teachers I to V as School Principal I under the Expanded Career Progression Policy. Meanwhile, 954 Head Teachers VI and Assistant School Principal II positions will be retitled to School Principal I.

Under this process, acting school heads will be prioritized as “on-stream candidates” to ensure their faster promotion to principal roles, the agency said. Eligible personnel undergoing retitling will also secure their rightful positions as principals in their designated schools.

“This pressing issue is an eye-opener. So many of our schools operate without brains—because that’s what our principals are, the brains of our schools. Rest assured, DepEd is taking swift action to address this problem,” Education Secretary Sonny Angara said in a statement.

It was the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II) that flagged the shortage of public school principals in the country. In its report released last month, it said that a total of 24,916 public schools in the country have no sitting principals.

In response, the DepEd said it is eyeing implementing a one principal-one school policy.

By 2026, the agency is expected to adopt the School Organizational Structure and Staffing Standards, establishing a 1:1 principal-to-school ratio. An additional 5,870 School Principal I positions will also be created to support this initiative. —VBL, GMA Integrated News