The importance of teachers

Maria Rafaela V. Pelagio

Celebrating the end of Teacher’s Month last October 5, something came into my realization, are we
really celebrating for the teachers or because of the teachers?

With the numerous scandals over the misuse of public funds, inevitable scams and frauds not only found
in the business industry, but also everywhere here in the Philippines, change is usually wanted. Although
values form and start in the early life at home with your parents, the role of teachers here cannot be
over-emphasized. Teachers, in fact help shape how the world looks like, they taught the doctors,
engineers, accountants that we rely on almost every day. Yet here they are, with a minimum wage less
than 20,000 pesos a month.

Yes, maybe for me and you, 20,000 pesos a month is large- for a student that has clothes and decent
food on the table. But for teachers? 20,000 pesos isn’t enough. It’s not enough for the bills, the food
that they have to put on the table, medical expenses and so much more.

Our teachers play an important responsibility not just for the future of our country but for the world
too. Without them, where would we be? How are we supposed to know how to count, read and write?
These activities are so basic, but without teachers, we wouldn’t have known how.

In my opinion, the workload of teachers just doesn’t match up with their wage. From recording to
discussing to creating assessments for students and sometimes disciplining children who weren’t
disciplined at home, 20,000 pesos just doesn’t seem enough. They would even sometimes go home
either straight to bed or straight to doing their unfinished school works without extra pay, and no
quality time with their family.

Teachers deserve more. They deserve more gratitude and not just a salary hike for they too, are
responsible for the future. It shouldn’t be just “Kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan.”