Choosing to stay and teach

Five years ago, I was hired as a public school teacher.

It was fun until it wasn’t. Not teaching per se. Teachers love what they do, but they don’t love the system. It is the system that kills them slowly.

Probably you have heard of many stories about how teachers get involved in many issues relating to money, debts, etc. The most saddening part of this? That these stories of teachers getting stuck with huge debts up to their retirement are so common. Should we blame them? No, because the money was not spent on themselves. Some of it had probably gone to help their students, some to beautify their classrooms, and still some to buy things they need for teaching that the government does not provide. Things like a projector, TV, laptop, printer, ink.

Do people know that almost a year’s worth of a teacher’s salary is allocated to finance their advanced studies and other related training because they want to improve? This is the sad reality. People think that teachers have money, especially with the bonuses they receive, but their paycheck is not even sufficient to afford them a comfortable lifestyle.

A P300,000 annual salary is not even enough to buy a property and build a comfortable house for their family. When they get sick, they do not even enjoy the full benefit of free health care services. On top of all these, it is hard to maintain their moral ascendancy when faced with all these hardships.

To be honest, I have always wanted to leave the teaching profession. I have been tempted to try my luck in other fields while still young. Maybe leave the country and get engaged to a foreigner. This is why I admire teachers who have spent a good part of their youth teaching the young ones and enduring even the most stressful moments.

What made me stay then? Although I have no choice, coming from poverty and despite having had other jobs in the past, it was the only profession where I met wonderful people who brought me joy, pain, and love—my students.

Every year, I always look forward to meeting new students and getting to know them through their personal stories. I am very much aware that I will not be promoted if I become too attached to them, but I don’t care, at least for now. I do have plans and dreams, but with this bureaucratic system, I doubt that I’ll ever make it to the top. The truth is, those who are in lower positions are the ones who work harder and are ardent about making a change.

Teachers are among the most passionate human beings one could ever meet. Their intelligence always links with their empathy. Through different stories and personalities, there will be that one teacher in our education journey who will really touch our lives.

I have wanted to walk away many times, literally—particularly when face-to-face classes were still allowed. But not now. I have already spent five years in this profession that has turned into a vocation. Five years of my youth have already been dedicated to teaching. I do not regret it at all. Many of my friends are already two steps ahead of me because they chose more lucrative careers. But not me.

Even if someday my students become more successful than me, I will be glad to see them while I live a simple life. Who knows? I might stay for good. The reality is, as someone who’s poor, we only have limited options. Those options are only for the rich. But I can say that at some point in my life when I gained clarity, I chose to stay and teach the young ones.

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SM Valenzona, 28, is a senior high school teacher at Muñoz National High School (Main), Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

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