MANILA, Philippines — With the approval of the 2011 national budget, the Department of Education (DepEd) plans to prioritize the perennial problems that the public school system faces especially during the opening of classes, particularly the shortages in teachers, classrooms, textbooks, school seats, and water and sanitation facilities.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the DepEd will be hiring some 50,000 new teachers to cut to half the total number of available teaching position of some 100,000.

“This move aims to improve the quality of education in the country,” Luistro said.

The DepEd chief said the applicants should pass the licensure examination for teachers, adding that having majored in English, Math or science is an added advantage for education graduates.

Luistro said the DepEd is getting its P207-billion budget for 2011. “This represents the biggest increase in years in our annual budget at close to 19 percent compared with last year’s,” he said.

He noted that the DepEd’s 2010 budget is only some P175 billion. “The increase would give the department more elbow room to pursue our priority projects,” he said.

Aside from the hiring of teachers, the DepEd said another major program that the department would focus on is the development and implementation of the universal public kindergarten for five-year olds in 2011 to give new entrants to basic education the proper preparation on the rigors of schooling.

Luistro is expected to lead DepEd in the implementation of the K+12 (Kindergarten plus 12), a banner project of the Aquino administration which seeks to extend the 10-year basic education cycle by two years to improve the quality of Filipino high school graduates.

Unveiled last October, the project proposes a K-6-4-2 plan, which includes kindergarten plus six years in elementary (Grades 1 to 6), four years in junior high school (Grades 7 to 10) and additional two years in senior high school (Grades 11 to 12) where students may take on specialized learning in employable skills.

“We will pursue the K+12 plan amid persistent shortages in the public education system: At least 152,500 classrooms to reach the ideal classroom-student ratio of one to 45, twice the 500,000 teachers to have manageable class sizes,” he said.