Pity the poor public school teachers
The three public school teachers in Lingayen, Pangasinan, who were shot and killed by a deranged policeman have already been buried. They died instantaneously inside the classroom from the gun of a crazy member of the police force, who allegedly opened fire at innocent teachers and pupils just to collect some debts via the barrel of his gun. We shall deal with the rise of incidence of heinous crimes later. We shall focus on the poor financial conditions of our teachers. These deaths should bring the government to its senses on the matter of the appropriations for the salary increases for public school teachers all over the country.
The current salary of teachers is lower than a clerk in a corporate world or a mere office assistant in the business community. The security guards in San Miguel Corporation during the time of Don Andres Soriano III in the eighties was already more than thirty thousand by then when the monthly pay of public school teachers was much less than five thousand pesos. I should know. I am the eldest son of both public school teachers. I have personal knowledge how the teachers are being exploited, taken advantage of and even coerced, intimidated and pressured by sharks in the usury business and other vultures who get rich at the expense of the poor.
When we were growing up, we could hardly make both ends meet. My mother had to sell mosquito nets and my father had to augment our income by assisting farmers and fishermen. I had to grow vegetables and tend goats, cows, and carabaos. I plowed the corn fields of my grandparents in the mountains of Langin, Ronda, and climbed coconut trees to earn a few centavos for my school needs. I had to work as a school janitor to go to high school and lived in a squatters' area because my parents simply were poor. We lived in a nipa shack atop a mountain and had to walk a kilometer to fetch water from a spring.
The teachers in the province today, especially those who are assigned in the barangays, have to get another sideline to support their growing family. They have a lot of expenses to meet. When supervisors and superintendents visit, they have to spend money to entertain their superiors. They have to raise funds to repair dilapidated classrooms, and to buy chalk, erasers, and teaching materials. They are assigned many extraneous tasks not related to education, like census-taking, election-related duties and community development. The teachers are the most exploited, much abused, underpaid, overworked and unrecognized heroes of the nation.
We always pay lip service to teachers and dare say that education is the most essential foundation of a nation. And yet, the politicians ignore the teachers. They have billions for public works and armaments for war. And pittance for teachers. Education used to have the biggest slice of the national budget. Today, national defense, public works and even the cash transfer to mendicants are given higher priority. When do we wake up to the urgent need to address the issue? When our teachers are killed by policemen who terrorize teachers for unpaid loans? Pity the poor teachers. Upon their hands lie the future of the nation.
- Latest
