Attached is Memorandum (DM-HROD-2022-1571) with the subject: Interim Strategies and Protocols on Teacher Hiring for School Year (SY) 2022-2023 in view of the State of Public Health Emergency and Issuance of DepEd Merit Selection Plan.
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Interim Strategies and Protocols on Teacher Hiring for School Year (SY) 2022-2023 in view of the State of Public Health Emergency and Issuance of DepEd Merit Selection Plan
Pursuant to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF) Resolution No. 163-A dated 27 February 2022 imposing the National Implementation of Alert Level System for COVTD-19 Response, and the recent issuance of DepEd Order (DO) No. 19, s. 2022 (The Department of Education Merit Selection Plan) and the DepEd Memorandum (DM) No. 41, s. 2022 on the Transitory Measures on the Implementation of DO No. 19, s. 2022, the following actions are directed to be implemented by the DepEd field offices so as not to hamper the teacher recruitment, selection, and placement (RSP) operations of the Department of Education (DepEd) amidst the still ongoing State of Public Health Emergency per Proclamation No. 922, s. 2022:
Applicable Hiring Guidelines for Teaching Positions in SY 2022-2023
In reference to DM No. 41, s. 2022 on the adoption of Transitory Measures on the Implementation of DepEd Merit Selection Plan (MSP), the existing hiring guidelines for teaching positions in Kindergarten to Senior High School (SHS), as stipulated in the issuances enumerated below, shall remain effective and in full force until officially amended, revoked, rescinded, or modified through the issuance of a DepEd Order:
DO No. 7, s. 2015, Hiring Guidelines for Teacher I Positions Effective School Year (SY) 2015-2016
DO No. 22, s. 2015, Hiring Guidelines for the Remaining Teaching Positions Effective School Year (SY) 2015-2016
DO No. 3, s. 2016, Hiring Guidelines for Senior High School (SHS) Teaching Positions Effective School Year (SY) 2016-2017
DO No. 9, s. 2016, Reinforcement of DepEd Order Nos. 7 and 22, s. 2015 as the Hiring Guidelines for Kindergarten to Grade 10 Teaching Positions
DO No. 32, s. 2016, Addendum to DepEd Order No. 3, s. 2016 (Hiring Guidelines for Senior High School [SHS] Teaching Positions Effective SY [SY] 2016-2017)
DO No. 49, s. 2016, Guidelines on the Hiring of Contractual (Full-Time and Part-Time) Teachers in Senior High School
DO No. 50, s. 2017, Hiring Guidelines for Teacher 1 Positions in Schools Implementing Indigenous Peoples Education Effective School Year 2016-2017
DO No. 51, s. 2017, Amended Qualification Standards for Senior High School Teaching Positions in the Technical-Vocational-Livelihood Track and Other Clarifications on the Hiring Guidelines
An omnibus policy issuance on the revised implementing guidelines for hiring and promotion in all DepEd positions, including teaching positions in the Kindergarten to Senior High School (SHS), anchored on the new DepEd MSP, shall be issued through a DepEd Order. Meantime, teacher hiring shall be governed by the above-enumerated issuances.
With the recent promulgation of Executive Order (EO) No. 174 on Establishing the Expanded Career Progression System for Public School Teachers, the Department, in collaboration with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Civil Service Commission (CSC), and Philippine Regulation Commission (PRC), shall issue the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) operationalizing the expanded system of career progression of teachers in DepEd, which shall feature the competency- and merit-based teacher promotion through reclassification, covering all teaching positions including SHS. Subsequent policies on for this purpose shall be released. Pending the release of these issuances, existing reclassification processes and guidelines shall remain effective.
Publication and Posting of Vacant Items and Transmittal of Action on Appointment
The Schools Division Offices (SDOs) shall coordinate with their CSC Field Office (CSC-FO) counterparts with regards to the submission of their publication requests and transmittal of action on appointments in accordance with CSC Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 14, s. 2020 or the Interim Guidelines on Appointments and Other Human Resource Actions for the Period of State of Calamity due to COV1D-19 Pandemic.
Submission and Receipt of Applications
a. The SDOs shall provide clear instructions to teacher applicants regarding the submission of their application documents. It is necessary to implement strict social distancing in receiving and validating hard copies of applications. The SDOs are highly encouraged to designate a separate area and provide disinfecting supplies (e.g. alcohol, sand sanitizer, etc.) where teacher applicants may be accommodated.
b. Insofar as practicable, the SDOs may organize online submission of documents of the applicants to minimize gathering of crowds in the physical offices.
c. Pursuant to the RA No. 8792 or the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 which provides that “(e)lectronic documents shall have the legal effect, validity or enforceability as any other document or legal writing and a) (w)here the law requires a document to be in writing, that requirement is met by an electronic document if the said electronic document maintains its integrity and reliability and can be authenticated so as to be usable for subsequent reference/’ online submission of electronic copies of the application documents may be allowed subject to the submission of the hard copies upon request for purposes of verification.
Selection Committee Panel Interview, Demonstration Teaching, and Deliberations
a. The SDOs with localities under Granular Lockdown and Alert Levels 4 and 5 shall implement remote modalities in the conduct of applicants7 interview and demonstration teaching, and selection committee deliberations, such as online video conferencing and/or phone interviews. Further, to maintain security and confidentiality in the said evaluative activities, it is highly encouraged to use secured platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Workplace by Facebook or Google Meet as recommended in the OUA Memorandum 00-0420-0042 dated 17 April 2020.
b. The SDOs with localities under Alert Level 1, 2, and 3 areas may proceed with the usual face-to-face process of interview, demonstration teaching, and deliberations; provided that stringent health and safety protocols are strictly observed. However, SDOs are not precluded from adopting the recommended action in Item 4.a or a combination of face-to-face and alternative platforms, as may be appropriate and necessary.
Conduct of English Proficiency Test (EPT)
a. In reference to DM No. 106, s. 2019 (Administration of the English Proficiency Test for Teacher Applicants Nationwide) and DM-CI-2020-060 dated 08 May 2020 (Advisory on the Administration of English Proficiency Test (EPT) for Teacher-Applicants and Request for List of Testing Centers for Online Administration) signed by Undersecretary Diosdado M. San Antonio, requests on the administration of the EPT shall be coordinated with the Bureau of Education Assessment (BEA).
b. The EPT is administered through a computer-based (CB) modality, using an online or internet-dependent platform. The transmittal and generation of test results are faster for the CB-EPT than the usual paper-based (PB) test. For SDOs that will have difficulty meeting the operational and system requirements of the CB-EPT, a request on the conduct of a PB-EPT must be submitted to BEA through its email address (eptbea@deped.gov.ph). The request must include the requested modality, target date of administration, and the number of teacher-applicants. The SDO must wait for the approval of the request and confirmation of the target date of administration.
c. EPT-related concerns and queries must be emailed to the same email address (ept.bea@deped.gov.ph).
d. Per DM 106, s. 2019, EPT results shall be valid for two years from the time of the test administration. Each examinee shall be allowed to take the test only once, regardless of the number of plantilia positions and schools division the applicant is applying to. BEA will retrieve from its database the same EPT results of the concerned applicant as long as these are valid.
e. To heighten the test security in conducting the EPT either in CB or PB modality7, there will be corresponding sanctions and legal liabilities for teacher-applicants and testing personnel who will be caught divulging any EPT information, test materials, test responses/contents, scoring processes, results, including its online platform, or any other documents or information to any person or organization.
f. The teacher-applicants and testing personnel must sign an oath of confidentiality before the examination. They must fully understand and agree that any violations/infractions of security made or committed before, during, and after the test will be investigated for possible injunctions and/or invalidation of the application.
g. Such test violations/infractions may include, but are not limited, to the following:
- Supplication/distortion of responses
- Cheating
- Plagiarizing
- Copying and distribution of EPT materials; contents/documents
- Replication and replacement of EPT materials/contents/ documents
- Capturing test content, responses, and other project-related through any electronic gadgets
- Distribution and posting of photos of the test content, responses, and other EPT-related materials/documents in any form of media
- Using EPT-related materials and documents for other purposes
- Selling of EPT-related test materials/contents/documents
- Infringement of copyright
- Taking the EPT more than once in multiple SDOs while the test results of the first examination are still valid
h. The commitment of any violations/infractions depicted in item 5.g. shall result in appropriate legal action, whereby the degree of violation and means by which the act was conducted shall be determined by the Schools Division Superintendent as per the incident report of BEA and SDO personnel.
i. In the event of a breach of security and confidentiality, legal action/remedy/sanction based on DepEd and national laws and policies on data privacy and intellectual property rights shall be determined by the authorized DepEd personnel after a thorough investigation.
j. The corresponding sanctions for teacher-applicants could be the invalidation of their application while for the testing personnel, it could be salary and work suspension.
k. It should be noted, however, that the applicant’s inability to take EPT shall not be considered grounds for disqualification. No EPT result shall only mean no score under the EPT criterion set in DO Nos. 07 and 22, s. 2015, and DO No. 03, s. 2016. Henceforth, applicants who have met the cut-off score in spite of the absence of an EPT score shall still be included in the Registry of Qualified Applicants (RQA).
Establishment of the RQA for SY 2022-2023
a. In view of the one (1) year validity of the RQA, SDOs shall establish a new RQA for SY 2022-2023. Based on the usual teaching hiring process, SDOs are allowed to commence the call for applications and undertake the recruitment and selection process in advance to establish the RQA for SY 2022-2023 in anticipation of the timely appointment and deployment of teachers to newly-created items this year.
b. To expedite the recruitment and selection process as well as to augment the number of applicants in light of the COVID-19 situation, SDOs that have yet to exhaust the SY 2021-2022 RQA may consider the remaining qualified applicants to be included in the SY 2022-2023 RQA; provided that said applicants should have expressed their intent to apply in SY 2022-2023 by submitting the following:
i. Letter of Intent in accordance with the SDO7s Call for Applications; and
ii. Updated credentials and application documents, if any.
The points earned by the teacher applicants in the previous year’s RQA may be honored, unless they have presented new documents to update their points.
Reappointment (Renewal) of SHS Teachers with Provisional Appointments
a. In compliance with Sec. 17 of DO No. 34, s. 2021 or the Guidelines on the Implementation of CSC Resolution No. 2100451 on the Reappointment (Renewal) of Provisional Appointment of Senior High School Teachers First Hired in School Year 2016-2017 and Amendment to DepEd Order No. 51, s, 2017, provisional appointments issued in SY 2021-2022 shall beeffective until June 24,2022, or the last day of the current school year per DO No. 29, s. 2021 (School Calendar and Activities for School Year 2021-2022).
b. SHS teachers with provisional appointments may be reappointed (or renewed) based on the following parameters:
- Provisional appointments of SHS teachers who were first hired in SY 2016-2017 ending April 7, 2017 shall be effective only until June 24,2022. Sec. 14 of DO No. 34, s. 2021, as the implementing guidelines of the CSC Resolution No. 2100451, provides that the validity of the extension of their provisional appointments shall be effective only until the last day of SY 2021-2022, unless otherwise authorized by subsequent issuances.
- The Department is committed to persistent coordination with PRC to ensure that SHS teachers are given opportunities to take the licensure examination on a priority basis in order to allow them to qualify for a permanent position in the future.
- SHS provisional appointees who were first hired in SY 2017-2018 and whose appointments are about to expire by the end of SY 2021-2022 shall be covered by Sec. 8(a) of the Republic Act (RA) No. 10533 (Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013). Their provisional appointments shall likewise be effective only until the last day of SY 2021-2022 or the last day of service reckoned to their first date of hiring, unless otherwise authorized by subsequent issuances.
- SHS provisional appointees who were first hired in SY 2018-2019 onwards, including those hired within SY 2017-2018 but have yet to exhaust their five (5) year allowance period, may be reappointed, subject to the requirements stipulated in Part V(B) of DO No. 34, s. 2021:
- There are no qualified LEPT eligible applicants who are available and willing to teach in relevant specialized subjects in the SHS, as certified by the SDS;
- The provisional appointee is yet to exhaust their five (5)-year allowance period to pass the LEPT pursuant to Sec. 8(a) of the RA No. 10533 and relevant provisions of CSC MC No. 14, s. 2018 (CSC ORAOHRA); and
- The performance rating of the provisional teacher is at least Satisfactory pursuant to Sec 10(e)(2) of the CSC ORAOHRA.
iv. SHS provisional teachers who were appointed as Special Science Teacher I (SST I) by virtue of RA No. 10612 or the East-Tracked Science and Technology Scholarship Act of 2013 shall be automatically renewed a day after the last day of SY 2021-2022; provided that they still meet the following conditions stipulated in RA No. 10612 and RA No. 10533, to wit:
Award recipients must teach full-time high school subject(s) in Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, or Physics; or Information Technology or Agricultural, Aquaculture or Fisheries Technology, both in the university and technical-vocational tracks in the secondary education curriculum, for a minimum of two (2) years, in a public or private high school (Chapter ill Sec. 10 ofRA No. 10612) and;
Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 26, 27 and 28 of Republic Act No. 7836, otherwise known as the “Philippine Teachers Professionalization Act of 1994”, the DepED and private education institutions shall hire, as may be relevant to the particular subject:
- (a) Graduates of science, mathematics, statistics, engineering, music and other degree courses with shortages in qualified Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) applicants to teach in their specialized subjects in the elementary and secondary education. Qualified LET applicants shall also include graduates admitted by foundations duly recognized for their expertise in the education sector and who satisfactorily complete the requirements set by these organizations: Provided, That they pass the LET within five (5) years after their date of hiring: Provided, further, That if such graduates are willing to teach on part-time basis, the provisions of LET shall no longer be required (Sec. 8a ofRA 10533).
The SST I under provisional status is likewise required to pass the LEPT within five (5) years reckoned from the date of first hiring, should they opt to continue teaching in DepEd after fulfilling their service obligation as stipulated in Sec. 11(e) of RA10612.
c. To guarantee the continued search for qualified and licensed teachers, the HRMO is required to publish the teaching items held by provisional appointees every six (6) months reckoned from the date of issuance of the provisional appointment. This to ensure that the continued employment of the provisional teachers is corollary of the lack of qualified and LEPT-eligible applicants in the SDO, as certified by the SDS.
d. Should a provisional appointee pass the LEPT anytime within the current school year, the HRMO in the SDO shall immediately facilitate the change in status of appointment from provisional to permanent. The provisional appointee shall no longer be required to undergo the hiring and selection process.
e. Pursuant to Part V(E) Item 7(c) of DO No. 51, s. 2017, provisional teachers shall be entitled to the same compensation and allowances received by permanent personnel, to include the Cash Allowance to Teachers1. Provisional teachers who are still employed during summer break shall be entitled to applicable compensation and allowances received by teachers during this period.
f. In view of the inquiries and appeals for the extension of the five (5)-year allowance period granted to non-LEPT passers hired in SHS positions under provisional status, the Department is in constant coordination with CSC and will issue and disseminate a separate communication to field offices as soon as we secure updates from CSC. Any action related to this purpose shall be contingent to the final decision of the Commission.
This advisory of instructions is made in response to the concerns of the DepEd field offices that have been brought to the attention of this Office, particularly on the ways forward of hiring and selection of teachers for the coming SY 2022-2023 in light of the COVID-19 situation and the recent issuance of Agency MSP.
Appointing authorities/officers, members of the Human Resource Merit Promotion Selection Board (HRMPSB), and other RSP Implementors are hereby directed to implement the abovementioned action steps, but subject to the applicable hiring guidelines for teaching positions as enumerated herein.
Furthermore, while the Department seeks to continue work operations in these challenging times, the health and safety of both teacher applicants and RSP implementors must be given utmost priority and consideration.
For further queries and clarifications, please contact Human Resource Development Division of the Bureau of Human Resource and Organizational Development (BHROD-HRDD) at telephone no. (02) 8-470-6630 or email at bhrod.hrdd@deped. gov.ph.
For guidance and appropriate action.
