Gov't urged to 'invest properly' in Filipino teachers
As the country starts the celebration of National Teachers’ Month this September, a group urged the government to pay better attention to the overall welfare of Filipino educators.
Teachers' Dignity Coalition (TDC), in a statement issued Tuesday, Sept. 5, expressed hope that this year’s celebration of NTM will give more concrete solutions to the long-standing plight of teachers.
“As always, expect an oversupply of platitudes from ghost writers paid for by politicians using taxpayers’ money,” TDC said.
TDC lamented that elected officials “never miss” opportunities like this to have their “names ringing in our ears” enough to last till the next election.
“We are going to hear, yet again, sweet words praising teachers for their sacrifices and heroic deed,” TDC said. “Perhaps a little promise here and there will be sprinkled, as tradition dictates,” is added.
As if this is not sad enough, TDC noted that what is “even sadder is the fact that, as always, many teachers will once again naively believe what they hear and hope for better things to come.”
The plight of Filipino teachers
TDC said that teachers’ long-overdue salary increases, remained a “dangling carrot at the end of a stick” ---- with no hope of getting serious attention as they “slice the pie” called the education budget.
“The mandated 60-day rest after each school year continues to be violated in the exigency of service,” TDC said.
Teachers’ health benefits, it added, are no “closer to lawmakers’ minds than they were over half a century ago, when a few good men birthed the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers.”
TDC noted that at the start of the new school year on Aug. 29, students were stuck yet again in their crammed classrooms, where they will have to endure extreme heat in April and May of next year.
“Our teachers continue to bear the ever-expanding clerical tasks on top of their jam-packed teaching duties,” TDC said.
Amid all these, TDC noted that the country’s elected officials and the bureaucrats running the education agencies have their “hearts set on things too remote from our teachers’ well-being, our children’s education, and our people’s future.”
Despite this, TDC said it will still celebrate the NTM despite all the “difficulties and heartaches.”
“After all, it still serves to remind us of the nobleness of the teaching profession and the value of our teachers’ contributions in shaping the lives of our children and our society in general,” TDC said.
NTM is an annual month-long event, which began in 2011 following Proclamation 242 by then-President Benigno Aquino III. It aims to "celebrate the unique role and service that teachers play in guiding families, strengthening communities, and building the nation."
For this year’s celebration, TDC reiterated that if the government wanted to “see a responsible citizenry, a critical youth, a progressive, intelligent people, and a strong nation, it had better invest properly in our teachers.”
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