With the ultimate goal being the reduction of delays in administrative processes and bringing management, teacher support, and educational services closer to hard-to-reach schools.
According to the Department of Education (DepEd), it is looking to establish 13 new Schools Division Offices (SDOs) and set up 15 interim offices in differeng parts of the country.
According to Education Secretary Sonny Angara, “We can no longer expect a single Schools Division Superintendent in a centralized governance structure to effectively provide administrative support and technical assistance to schools located 300 to 600 kilometers away across open seas and mountain ranges.”
Thus, the restructuring blueprint aims to give DepEd an “audit-tested basis for decisive action.”
Citing a DepEd assessment of 221 existing division offices, nine provinces already require changes to their management systems due to the vastness of their jurisdictions and the difficulties associated with travel.
These are Bohol, Palawan, Masbate, Quezon, Cebu, Leyte, Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Cagayan.
The proposed new SDOs include Palawan North, Palawan South, Cebu North, Cebu South, Iloilo North, Iloilo South, Leyte North, Leyte South-West, Bohol Northeast, Quezon South & Islands, Masbate Islands, CamSur Partido & Coastal, and Cagayan North & Islands.
Moreover, DepEd will also immediately establish 15 temporary field sub-offices in areas requiring urgent support, including Laoang in Northern Samar, Guiuan in Eastern Samar, Bislig City in Surigao del Sur, and Siasi in Sulu.
“By creating 13 new division offices and 15 interim sub-offices, we are bringing educational leadership, payroll administration, and instructional support directly to our teachers and school heads,” Angara added.
DepEd has outlined four approaches for the implementation of the classification under the new blueprint, based onthe size and needs of each division.
Track A is for small to medium-sized SDOs with sufficient capacity, where current operations and staffing levels will be maintained.
Meanwhile, Track B involves adding personnel, officials, and transportation support for large SDOs that are reaching their operational limits.
In Track C, temporary field offices are to be set up in very large SDOs facing significant bottlenecks, pending a full division.
Lastly, Track D involves the formal division of overburdened “mega-divisions” into separate, independent SDOs.
Under this plan, the parent division offices will continue their operations, while the management of certain school clusters will be transferred to the newly established divisions.
The DepEd aims to collaborate with Congress to update Republic Act 9155, or the Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001, and work with local governments to secure facilities for the use of new offices.
The DepEd expects that these changes will expedite the processing of teachers’ salaries, strengthen the management of schools, and improve the quality of support provided to teachers and students in remote communities.
