‘Are you not panicking?’ Over half of public schools don’t have principals

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‘Are you not panicking?’ Over half of public schools don’t have principals

EDUCATION. Teachers in a classroom in Manila, April 25, 2022.

Rappler

Nearly 25,000 public schools in the Philippines have been operating without principals — and the Department of Education has no formalized succession plan for future leaders

MANILA, Philippines – More than half of Philippine public schools do not have principals, showing that the “quantity, quality, and qualifications of school leaders” in the country “are in a dismal state.”

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) found that 55% of the Philippines’ 45,199 public schools, or 24,916, do not have principals.

“Kulang na kulang tayo sa principals (We have a severe shortage of principals). Are you not panicking?” Pasig City Representative Roman Romulo, co-chairperson of EDCOM 2, had said in a November 2024 hearing.

Under Department of Education (DepEd) Order No. 77, series of 2010, school heads are defined as “individuals occupying the plantilla positions of school principal and head teacher.” A school principal plantilla item should be “assigned to every complete school with at least nine teachers and every cluster of three schools with at least nine teachers.”

But even among the 20,381 public schools with school principals, “only 18,744 had the corresponding plantilla item,” which means the DepEd’s own policy guidelines are not being followed.

“There were also widespread inconsistencies in the allocation of school heads, with about 12,057 schools with incorrect school head items,” added EDCOM 2.

These show “a critical need for DepEd to reevaluate and refine its strategies for assigning school leaders.” EDCOM 2 recommended that a principal plantilla position be allocated per school.

Limited pool

Part of the problem lies in the limited pool of potential school principals, as EDCOM 2 flagged “the low passing rates and inconsistent delivery of the National Qualifying Examination for School Heads (NQESH).”

“In 2021, only 36.93% of examinees moved forward in the Principal I selection process, and in 2018, the passing rate was only 0.64%, with just 148 out of 23,000 candidates passing nationwide,” the commission said.

The NQESH was not administered in 2019, 2020, and 2022.

In addition, the DepEd does not have a formalized succession plan for school leadership, or a system that would prepare potential principals for the future.

Those who do become principals are “often left to adjust to their roles without the structured support” needed, due to the “noticeable absence of a coaching and mentoring culture within DepEd, particularly at the [schools division office] and school levels.”

EDCOM 2 emphasized that school leaders would need professional development to boost their leadership skills and competencies.

A good example, according to the commission, is an initiative from the DepEd regional office in Northern Mindanao. Called Project CELLS (Comprehensive Education and Leadership Learning System), it was launched to strengthen the competencies of school heads in the region.