Back to school

By Marifi Jara

IT’S June. The rains are here. And soon students will be going back to class. Tomorrow, in fact, for most schools.

And the scene won’t be too pretty in many public elementary, secondary, and even tertiary schools all over the country, including here in Pangasinan. And it’s not so much because of the wet weather.

Students will be cramped in classrooms and there would be too many of them for every teacher.

The ideal ratio of about 25-30 students per teacher is an illusion for many a school run by the government.

The long-standing lack of teachers for our ever-growing population is a result of two factors: One is that there is not enough in the public budget – both at the local and national levels – to hire enough educators. Two, and this is the sadder thing, is that there are very few takers for the vacancies.

Teaching, particularly within our free public education system, is traditionally a noble and supposedly rewarding profession. But it has lost its charm among the qualified faction of our society because the reality is, the financial compensation is hardly enough to meet even the most basic of needs. That is why many of our could-be teachers have understandably gone abroad in search of greener pastures, and often at the cost of their true professional worth  given their underemployed positions.

I bet many of our domestic helpers abroad who are college degree holders would not think twice about returning home and becoming teachers instead if they could earn as much here and provide sufficiently for their families.

Working hours for teachers are long. Apart from the time spent inside the classroom, they need to make preparations for their  lectures, think up creative gimmicks to make the lessons more attractive, prepare questions for exercises, short quizzes and exams, and after all that, sit up through the night to check papers. In between all that, teachers also have to be available to students for consultations – sometimes even on issues not related to the class lessons. And ideally, teachers should themselves be on a continuing education program so that they could be relevant mentors to an increasingly intelligent new generation. The accountability is also enormous – what teachers say to their students in and out of class could have a major impact on young, impressionable minds.  Teaching is physically, intellectually and emotionally draining. 

That is why teaching has to be aptly rewarded.

There is a proposal in Congress, with counterparts both in the Senate and the House of Representatives, that is intended to professionalize government service through a more equitable compensation system. The proposed law, dubbed as the Government Classification and Compensation Act (GCA), is based on a comprehensive study undertaken by the Civil Service Commission with the Department of Budget and Management.

If approved, it will update the existing salary structure under the 17-year old Salary Standardization Law (SSL) contained in R.A. 6758. Teachers, among others, will be among the positions that will greatly benefit from this through a job valuation system that measures the level and type of compensable factors such as skills and knowledge, nature of work and answerability required to perform the job.

The bill was filed during the 13th Congress by Senators Panfilo Lacson and Edgardo Angara under Senate Bill No. 2496 and SB No. 2495 and the counterpart was jointly filed by Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda and Rep. Francis Nepomuceno under House Bill No. 5918. I hope the 14th Congress that will open in July will put this in their priority list.

Of course there are also non-financial rewards in teaching. Lots of it. Being in the company of   young people keeps you young. A note from a previous student who has done well in life and thanking you for being partly responsible for that success is priceless. Knowing that you are making a positive contribution, no matter how small and seemingly intangible, to Philippine society and its future is quite a lovely feeling.

But let’s get real now. Nobility has to be tied to practicality. Food, housing and clothing, at the very least, don’t come around for free.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/roots/)

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