How sad to learn that more than half a million public school teachers still did not get any salary adjustment—something they have long been asking for. How can teachers not be given the decent salary they do deserve? They have barely enough for their basic needs. So many teachers feel forced to go abroad, accepting modest jobs (as caregivers or even as domestic helpers) to make financial ends meet.
Like soldiers, (public school) teachers cannot choose where they would get assigned, especially when they are new in the field. Sometimes, they may even have to put their lives at risk. Like my sister’s best friend (a teacher)—she drowned in her attempt to save the life of her pupil who accidentally fell from a banca into the water while they were crossing the sea to their area of destination. Both of them died. Then we also often hear of the risks teachers in the south have to contend with: terrorist abductions, usually without much significant effort from the government to rescue them.
Over the long haul, the heart for sacrifice of a teacher could have grown tired and embittered, hence the discontent, further aggravated by congested classrooms, shortage of textbooks, and substandard facilities (i.e., lack of toilets, tents as substitute classrooms to those yet to be restored after earthquakes and typhoons, etc.).
Back in the late 1940s when I was a young pupil myself, I recall that public school teachers were well-paid. They were regarded highly. It even used to be that students under their tutelage were better trained than those in private schools. Times have changed though—to the point, I also remember, hearing one farmer brag, whenever he got drunk, that his income was much higher than that of a (public school) teacher’s. It pained me to hear that but it was true.
Incidentally, I have four sisters who were all teachers; one of them was a district supervisor. Three have passed away while one is long retired. Not one of them had an affluent life.
What better investment is there other than in education—one that provides a strong foundation of learning and wellbeing for our children as future leaders of our nation? But how can the joy of studying be communicated by the teachers when they are too saddled with their financial woes?
Doesn’t the increase in teachers’ salaries amount to a mere pittance compared with the huge sums of money squandered by our legislators and government officials, as in the case of the Priority Development Assistance Fund and the Disbursement Acceleration Program scams?
Good education eventually leads to greater independence and more chances of attaining a better life. But how soon will the teachers be freed from the shackles of deprivation?
—ARMANDO LIBRANDO ALPAY,
c/o judithalpay@yahoo.com