DepEd Receives Zero Funding for New Teachers in 2027 Amidst Over 14,000 Shortage

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday said it did not receive funding for new teachers for 2027 despite over 14,000 teacher shortages nationwide. "They gave us a lot this year, so maybe they think it’s already enough, but we have an appeal," Education Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” M. Angara told reporters in an interview. Mr. Angara flagged a 14,274-teacher backlog costing around P4.29 billion as of 2025; however, the agency received zero allocations to address the staffing gap. "In fairness, we got 32,000 this year, which is above average hiring of around 20,000," the Education chief said. "But unfortunately, we do not have [a budget] yet." "We’re hoping that it will improve in the course of the budgetary process," he added. In the agency’s ‘wishlist’, it requested an additional P49.16 billion in funding under its “personal improvement” program to address teacher gaps. Of this, P33.53 billion is allocated to hiring new personnel, including 14,274 Teacher I and 14,126 School Principal I. Other school personnel posts will cover 39,428 Project Development Officer I, 2,651 Administrative Assistant II, 2,651 Administrative Assistant III, and 903 Administrative Officer I. The agency also proposed “benefits and personnel support” worth P15.63 billion to cover overtime pay for teachers, transfer allowance, terminal leave benefits, and training for teachers and non-teaching staff. The program included 216,818 laptops for teachers and staff. "When we talk about computers, we’re only given 50,000 under current allocations," Mr. Angara said. "The President’s goal of giving all teachers laptops may not be achieved in the current phase." DepEd was earmarked P973.40 billion under the 2027 National Expenditure Program (NEP), higher than the P928.52 billion NEP budget a year earlier. In contrast to the P1.015-trillion budget approved in the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA), the agency’s 2027 NEP proposal was down by P41.60 billion.