77 provisional teachers from the defunct ARMM Government who turned parateachers during the BARMM Administration officially took their oaths and signed their appointments Friday, June 7, as Teacher 1 appointees in the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE).
It can be recalled that in March 2020, the MBHTE issued Memorandum Order No. 154 directing provisional teachers and employees under temporary status with expired term to cease and desist from rendering service effective April 30, 2020.
Provisional appointments as defined in the 2017 Omnibus Rules on Appointments and Other Human Resource Actions (Revised July 2018) shall be effective only for a year. But, the affected provisional teachers have stayed in their positions for almost or more than two decades.
Quandary as to what to follow that time – the rule of law or humanitarian considerations — Minister Mohagher Iqbal said that should the provisional teachers still be willing and capable to serve the Bangsamoro children, they are welcome to join the ranks of MBHTE’s para-teachers or those who were temporarily appointed under contract-of-service, with P15-thousand salary per month, in the absence of licensed teachers.
These teachers were re-employed following MBHTE Minister Mohagher Iqbal’s request to Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and Management (MFBM) to extend their services until the end of school year 2020-2021.
Aside from the reemployment, the MBHTE then offered free LET Review and a series of trainings under the Responsive Education System Promoting Effectiveness and Competency in Teaching (RESPECT) Program to encourage the parateachers to pass the board examination and prioritize them in the hiring processes.
In his message, Director General for Basic Education, Abdullah P. Salik, Jr., said that it was a matter of time for these provisional teachers to become full-fledged teachers in the ministry.
“After all the challenges we faced, hindi kayo kinalimutan at tinalikuran ni Minister Iqbal,” he said.
This year, the MBHTE is looking forward to more parateachers to become LET passers so they can permanently join its workforce.
