MANILA, Philippines – Education Secretary Sonny Angara pledged “swift action” to resolve the lack of principals in more than half of the country’s public schools.
The Year Two Report of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), released in January, showed that 24,916 out of 45,199 public schools, or 55%, do not have principals.
By 2026, the Department of Education (DepEd) is targeting a 1:1 principal-to-school ratio.
“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,” Angara was quoted as saying in a DepEd release on Tuesday, February 11.
The DepEd plans to tap the existing 7,916 passers of the National Qualifying Examination for School Heads (NQESH) to fill vacant principal positions.
It will also reclassify 14,761 Head Teachers I to V as School Principal I, and retitle 954 Head Teachers VI and Assistant School Principal II positions to School Principal I.
“Under this process, acting school heads will be prioritized as ‘on-stream candidates,’ ensuring a faster promotion to principal roles. Eligible personnel undergoing retitling will also secure their rightful positions as principals in their designated schools,” the education department said.
Principals who were deployed to offices will be instructed to return to their assigned schools as well, while “surplus” principal positions will be reallocated to schools without principals.
To improve the selection process for school heads, the DepEd said the NQESH will be “refocused on competency assessment.” The department did not go into detail on how the exam would be adjusted.
EDCOM 2 earlier flagged the historically low NQESH passing rates. In 2021, for instance, “only 36.93% of examinees moved forward in the Principal I selection process,” the commission noted in its report. – Rappler.com