Politicians should make the sacrifice, not the teachers

BY ANTONIO CONTRERAS         JUNE 08, 2019

EDUCATION Secretary Leonor Briones, reacting to the teachers’ call for President Rodrigo Duterte to honor his promise of increasing their salaries, has said yet again that teaching is not all about money.

The good Secretary must be told. It’s about time we put an end to this jaded adage, which has been elevated to the status of an ideology, or an opium that is used to make teachers feel good even as it numbs them from the reality of their hapless condition.

Basic education teachers are definitely one of, if not the most underpaid of all professions. And theirs is a sector where working for private schools, except if it is an international school or schools which children of the elite attend, does not offer better pay. Mostly working in classrooms that are ill-equipped or lack adequate facilities, they end up spending their own money to buy electric fans, staplers, computers, LCD projectors and even clips and pins. Some of them end up holding office inside a toilet. Secretary Briones, instead of using this as an opportunity to make amends, would rather take issue with this by taking to task the teachers for allegedly putting the Department of Education (DepEd) in a bad light. And as if that is not insult enough, we hear outgoing senator Francis Escudero arguing that decent faculty offices are not a priority.

But it is not surprising if teachers end up staging some kind of drama to call attention to their plight. After all, for a profession that we always extol as the most noble, we seem to just be contented to hammer on the psychic rewards and not on the material benefits and comforts that teachers deserve. Teachers, indeed, end up as natural actors. They have to continue to inspire and teach, like real troupers, despite the lack of adequate facilities and equipment, and the low salaries. They have to keep on teaching our children with tender, loving care despite the inconvenience and the pain.

Teachers are not just the second parents of our children. They are also information disseminators used by government agencies. They become adjunct public health workers aiding in the vaccination drive of government. In some instances, they aid social workers and are involved in activities related to community development. They work as census takers, and as board of election inspectors. Indeed, they become experts in multiple-tasking. They even turn into instant guest relations officers, dancers and singers, entertaining visiting government officials and during athletic meets and competitions. Yet the salary that they earn is a pittance. The starting pay for the lowest ranked teacher is only around P20,000 a month. If indeed teaching is a noble profession, then it behooves us to ask how come call center agents get a higher salary than many of them.

It is therefore not surprising that teachers have to turn to other sources of income to make ends meet, like selling longganisa and underwear. And here, instead of earning sympathy, they end up being ridiculed and made into a caricature of ineptitude and laziness. Many of them end up deep in debt, and become easy prey for usurious lenders. And they have to juggle the demands of running their own families with the demands that come with lesson plans that need to be prepared, papers to be graded, forms to be accomplished, training programs and seminars to be attended, and deadlines to be met. They end up so stressed out that some of them have committed suicide. Many of them end up getting sick with upper respiratory diseases. Many are so physically and emotionally tired and preoccupied that they give up their love lives.

This is the kind of work which Secretary Briones and many Filipinos continue to exult as not just all about money, as if one’s need for comfort, medicines for primary complex, and payment for loans from five-six lenders can be met simply by the accolades we heap on them for being the best teachers in the world. Briones urges teachers to stay true to their commitment to public service. She admonished them not to be ashamed of their low salaries, but instead should be proud of belonging to a profession that is well-loved not only here in the Philippines but even in other countries.

It’s about time we put an end to this travesty, this myth of teaching as a sacrifice. The future of this country rests on educators. All professions begin with teachers, and the quality of education cannot be met if teachers are underpaid and are without decent and conducive workspaces. Secretary Briones argues that around P150 billion would be needed to finance a P10,000 increase in the monthly salary of teachers. This is a cost that we have to bear, and we should not begrudge the teachers demanding it, and of which they should not feel guilty.

Teaching should no longer be treated as a sacrifice but a privilege. The burden must be borne by society, and if there should be additional taxes needed, then let it be raised to augment the salaries of teachers and build comfortable office spaces for them. If there is a need to cut, then let us cut the salaries of our elected politicians. Better yet, let us amend our Constitution and convert all elected posts, perhaps even that of the President, into part-time positions paid on an honoraria basis. This will most likely turn away those who see elective posts as a pathway to enriching themselves.

After all, if there is a profession that should become a sacrifice, and not all about money, or comfortable office spaces, it should be politics and not the teaching profession. And Senator Escudero may want to start by advising elected officials to take a pay cut and give up their big budgets for their office spaces.

https://www.manilatimes.net/politicians-should-make-the-sacrifice-not-the-teachers/566279/