Classrooms in a public elementary school in Basey, Samar. This picture was taken 9 months after Super Typhoon Yolanda.
I finished my elementary and high school studies in public schools. And just like a typical pupil in a public school, I experienced bringing a bolo for cutting grasses, sweeping our classroom, and walking in my tsinelas (slippers) going to school and back at home.
The World Teacher’s Day which was celebrated last October 5 has already passed, but for me, our teachers should be appreciated every day. Our teachers play a major role in shaping our country. Whatever subjects they are teaching, they produce Filipinos who become the builders and leaders of our nation. Although I’m not a government employed teacher by profession, I have loved ones who work as such, and I can understand what they are going through.
There are already proposed bills that aimed to give public teachers in the Philippines an increase to their current salaries and benefits. Unfortunately, these laws are still pending due to budgetary considerations . My compassion goes to our dear teachers. And in my personal opinion, they are more than deserving to receive higher wages and benefits. Here are 10 reasons why:
1. They work beyond the normal working time.
Full time teachers, whether working in public or private schools, don’t just do their job inside the classroom, they also bring home tasks, such as making lesson plans, making test questions, checking test papers, and many more. You might be thinking that they are already free during weekends, summer time, and semestral breaks, but truth be told, they can still be busy and stressful in doing some extra jobs, like creating and submitting various reports to their immediate superiors.
2. A public teacher is a super worker.
Believe it or not but a public teacher, especially in rural areas, does the job of a universal worker. With the lack of budget allocated to our public schools, public teachers provide super labor for our country. Our public teachers do not only teach but they also sometimes (or even often) do the job of a nurse, a carpenter, a gardener, a janitor, a security guard, a solicitator, a canvasser, and even an accountant (creating liquidation statements, disbursement summaries and other financial reports).
3. They serve as the second parents to their students.
Aside from doing the jobs in #2, they also do the job of a parent. Students spend most of their time with their teachers during school period. There are teachers who even know their students more than by their parents. What I’m trying to say is that teachers, like parents, carry a big responsibility in teaching values, honing the skills, developing the talents, and shaping the future of our youth. Teachers do not only help their students earn a diploma but also to earn a better life in the present and future.
4. They resort to spending their own money to do their job well.
Public teachers in remote or rural areas are suffering from the lack of funding from the national government. Consequently, they resort to spending their personal money to buy school supplies and other stuff to effectively do their job as teachers. Moreover, since their pupils or students came from poor families, they are the ones who often provide financial assistance to the poor children. Teachers don’t wait for the government to give “baon“, buy slippers, and help students when they’re sick.
5. They make their students rich and famous while they remain poor and unrecognized.
Knowledge is power, and that’s why it can make anyone rich or famous. Teachers who provide quality knowledge or education help their students become rich and successful with their lives. They teach students the necessary knowledge, skills, disciplines and principles to achieve their goals. Isn’t it just fair to give our teachers the compensation they deserve for producing successful ones? Isn’t it bizarre to see their students getting rich, having cars and owning luxury houses while our beloved teachers remain poor (or ordinary) despite of their many years in service?
6. Public teachers work in an inconvenient environment.
I considered myself as a teacher since I teach people online through my writing and coaching activities. But I’m still lucky because I work while sitting and typing on my laptop. On the other hand, public teachers work while standing and talking for hours in an uncomfortable classroom (are there air-conditioning units in our public classrooms?). Furthermore, public teachers in the countryside need to go through an uncomfortable journey just to reach their assigned schools.
7. Teaching is one of the greatest professions of all.
Being a teacher is one the greatest jobs, if not the greatest, of all jobs in the world. Jesus was a teacher. Buddha was a teacher. Teachers shape the lives of people and even the world. Isn’t it reasonable to upgrade the salaries of our teachers from good to great?
8. The government should not let our teachers leave our country.
Our teachers are valuable treasures that our government should keep. We should not let them leave our country to find greener pastures abroad. But what can we do if our teachers can earn 7-8 times more if they will teach abroad, particularly in the US? Apparently, many Filipinos still need quality education, and we can’t afford to lose many of our quality teachers.
9. Education is one of the best investment our country can put in.
Quality education creates jobs, fights poverty and helps us achieve financial freedom. Nationwide education also fights corruption, as it makes people become intelligent voters. Knowledge may not be a tangible weapon and defense for our country but it’s definitely a powerful advantage we can have to become a more competitive nation. So why not our government boost its investment for our public teachers?
10. They truly deserve it!
Our public funds are allegedly used in unnecessary or undeserving expenditures. How many billions are spent during elections? How many pesos did the administration allegedly disburse just to oust their rival politicians? How many of our taxes are spent on repetitive repairs, maintenance and reconstruction of low-quality roads and other public infrastructures? Can we still say that our public teachers don’t deserve a raise?
I know that not all public teachers are the same. There are those who are dedicated to their job and there also teachers who are not serious with their job (this is normal in every profession). But of course if they will enjoy a hike on their salaries and benefits, it will surely make them happier and more motivated to work.
I know some teachers who don’t care about the amount of money they receive from the government as long as they’re happy serving the country and seeing their students become successful. But whether they’re keen or not on a wage hike, giving them the benefits they deserve will surely make them happier, more valued, and more appreciated.
It’s time for our government to value Filipino workers, not only teachers, but also other professionals, such as our soldiers, policemen, nurses, entrepreneurs and engineers. Have we already forgotten that the most valuable asset of any organization is its people – the human resources? The people are the builders of our country. Buildings will fall but as long as we have happy, strong and persistent builders, we can always rise as a nation.
About Victorino Q. Abrugar
Vic promotes tourism-related businesses, brands and places. He's the marketing strategist of FAQ.PH. He believes that the key to success is to always do what to do next. Want to promote your business? Contact him at mail@optixor.com.
Hey, this just made me smile! I’m a teacher and I thank you for supporting us. 🙂
I generally agree that teachers should be paid well, and the recent increase in public school salaries is a good move. However, to increase it further at this time would present some problems: The minimum wage in Manila is about 12,000 but the public school teachers’ rate is already 18,000, or 50% higher. To increase it further would create imbalances and even unfairness on two fronts:
(1) Certain other government workers (even if not all) may be deserving of higher rates and contribute as much to national development as teachers, but they are still under minimum wage. Some of them may resort to corruption to earn extra income.
(2) Private schools are not able to catch up with such substantial increases, because the largest chunk of their expenses are salaries and they are not allowed to increase tuition beyond certain levels per year (such as 50% increase). In other countries like New Zealand, the government partly subsidizes the salaries of private school teachers in order to avoid putting severe disadvantages to private schools.
In general, the present pay of teachers are adequate or quite high compared to the others. The government must consider giving equal support to private schools and not just public schools. After all, a significant percentage of high standard schools in the country are private schools. While the government’s effort to increase teachers’ salaries is highly commendable, but it must consider equitableness in its policies.
Further, it is not often true that public school work more than the regular time. In fact I know of so many public school teachers who only work for half a day (and they are considered full-time teachers) and they are able to teach in private schools during the other half day.
Who work P12,000.00/month in Metro Manila? What are their qualifications? My cousins work as Security Guards in Metro Manila and their salaries vary: Some receive P16, 000.00/month while others have as much as P25,000.00/mo. In some call centers, agents could take an average of P30k a month! Some government employees in the GSIS, SSS, airports who met the second level eligibility qualifications have it 30K above! While teachers, professional as they are, receive only a meager salary of P18,000.00/month! Could we do something favorable to our teachers? Thank you, Vrise!
You may be surprised that some private school teachers receive as little as P8,000 a month, not even up to the P12,000 minimum. And this is in Metro Manila. The salary gap between public school teachers and private school teachers has become a serious problem for the private schools. One school I know lose about 2-3 teachers a year because of this. It pays minimum wage or a bit higher for new hires, and increase it every year, but could not catch up with the public school rate. Security guards usually receive a net pay of lower than minimum wage for the equivalent of 8 hours work. This is because the agency has to get their commission. If they receive P16,000 it is most probably because they are working for 12 hour shifts.
Thank you for appreciating and telling good things about us, I am a teacher. Teachers will be very happy and more committed to their job and will surely love their profession, if the government will increase the salary of teachers!
We teachers are also overworked but underpaid……
the truly sad thing is except for point #8, the exact same things are true in both the US and Canada. teachers are in the same situations. they are under paid, work lots more hours than just what they do in the classrooms, they have to spend their own money on supplies, etc. can this actually be the same all over the world? three out of three countries where i have friends that are teachers, and in all three countries teachers are having the exact same issues. it would seem at least in the Philippines, the US, and Canada, schools are majorly underfunded.
in regards to “8. The government should not let our teachers leave our country.
Our teachers are valuable treasures that our government should keep. We
should not let them leave our country to find greener pastures abroad.
But what can we do if our teachers can earn 7-8 times more if they will teach abroad, particularly in the US? Apparently, many Filipinos still need quality education, and we can’t afford to lose many of our quality teachers.”.
i seriously have to question this. ok yes technicaly they do make more money, but with the cost of living diferance they in reality are in the exact same finantual position in the US or Canada than they are in the Philippines. are you sure they are going over to teach, or are they going over and working at jobs like domestic help? i say that because i know from friends who are teachers in both the US and Canada, they have a hard time even finding a full time teaching job in those two countries. and even when they do they can barely afford to live on the poor pay teachers receive there.
After reading this my tears started to fall…It’s true we public school teachers spent some of our money just to help our students even if we are in an urban area…And we use our own money to do home visitation…
Wow! Very well said. It’s ok if we were not given salary increase as long as we were provided with all the things we need inside our convenient and well ventilated classroom and we won’t no longer be spending our personal money for contributions and other expenses. I agree that having salary increase will make the teachers more motivated. It’s been a while since the last increase. So I guess its the right time for our voice to be heard now. The basic commodities increases but our salaries still remain. How can we spend within our budget where in fact our salary is not sufficient for our needs? It’s not even a lavished needs. I hope our present leaders will seriously look into this matter and alleviate the present situations of our dear teachers like me. hehehe
Highly paid or not, it made me happy that a lot of people knows how hard teachers work. I am also a teacher who have to travel 26 kilometers more or less (One way) in a motorcycle through a rough road, climbing up and down four hills just to get to my station everyday (Rain or shine). Aside from that, we teachers have to contribute for whatever activity the school is having because most of our students came from a low-income family-of course we have to understand and be considerate- these are the people who badly needs our help. I have five children- two are elementary students, 9 & 7 yrs old- who are studying in the city proper and 4, 2 & 1 yr old who were left at home. This is indeed a sacrifice in the sense that I have to slash a budget for the school’s activities from my own salary, aside from the budget needed for my transportation. It would really be a big help to us if there would be a salary increase, more children will benefit from that amount, because we will have more to share to our less-privileged students and of course, it would be a big help to our family as well…
Hi ma’am Lilibel… I am your student b4 @ Sait..Exactly ma’am… I agree with you. We teachers worked hard for the benefit of our students. i hope our gov’t will hear our sentiments.
🙂 that is indeed true
thank you for recognizing us teachers….
11. Teachers are WONDER WORKERS….Teachers belong to DepEd….but sometimes they do the jobs of COMELEC during elections, NSO when doing census, DSWD when doing home visitations and poverty alleviation, DOH when doing the feeding and health programs, DPWH when we do repairs of classrooms, pupils’ chairs and tables and desks (sometimes spending our own pocket money for the labor costs and materials) ….AND TEACHERS DO THOSE SIDE JOBS WILLINGLY….i am a public school teacher…proud to be one… (Y)
Thank you for the appreciation of the teachers’ job…. that’s true!!!
May i say that all these are evident to private school teachers and thir salary is ranging from 6k-8k. Mataas na ung nasa 12k-16k. But us private teachers, i mean i used to be, you would hardly see us ralley in the streets, news or tv. One should look at one’s lifestile as well.
i agree with you…the salary of the private school teachers is far behind than the public school teachers…the government focuses only in public schools even private schools are part of it.. they must try to look on the other side of the coin
ung reason number, ask ko lang if talaga ba order ng civil service na dapat 9 hours tayo mag stay sa school? According to the admin lunch break daw ung 1 hour. If lunch break un bakit may meeting during lunch break? Bakit may parent at students na dapat kang i-entertain. Nakakaloka talaga
a quote to #6..dwelling in a SOLAR POWERED OVEN CLASSROOMS FOR 6 HOURS… 5x/week…
The government must realize all of these. It’s not really easy to be a teacher. This is an all-around profession, not just teaching in the classroom. Who can be a teacher, a nurse, engineer, accountant, guidance counselor, receptionist, philanthropist, usherette, coach, program coordinator, emcee, maid, gardener, carpenter, janitor, and many other at the same time??!
I like the last paragraph: “It’s time for our government to value Filipino workers, not only teachers, but also other professionals, such as our soldiers, policemen, nurses, entrepreneurs and engineers. Have we already forgotten that the most valuable asset of any organization is its people – the human resources? The people are the builders of our country. Buildings will fall but as long as we have happy, strong and persistent builders, we can always rise as a nation.”
I think the best way the government can help achieve this is to provide the environment where human resources thrive. The government can do this if it will focus on its primary task, to protect personal freedom and private property; in short, to serve justice.
Concerning the increase of teachers’ salary, this may appear good as a short-term solution for a particular sector in society. And add to it the fact of increasing prices of goods and services, we cannot but sympathize with the economic struggles of our public teachers. However, let us try to see it from a a long-term perspective and think of its economic impact in relation to other sectors of society. How about if other sectors of society will clamor for similar increase? How about if other public workers such as soldiers, doctors, nurses, police, firemen, barangay tanod, janitors, street cleaners, garbage collectors, social workers, and almost everyone will ask for additional pay? Where shall the government get the fund to provide for all of this? Is it even achievable? The logic is clear: from a long-term perspective and in terms of its impact to the whole economy, such increase is not based on sound economics. In the long run, instead of reducing the purse and the size of the government, it gets bigger and citizens are increasingly more dependent on it. This would mean that the means chosen to achieve the development of human resource is inappropriate and bound to fail. There is no better alternative than personal and economic freedom.