By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas
I went to the mall last Thursday and was surprised it was so full of people. Then I was told it was because there were no classes in celebration of Teachers’ Day.
The next day, I scanned the front pages of national dailies and there was a story on the President announcing the welfare of teachers and other school personnel will be prioritized Including the needs of schools.
A good gauge on how serious he was are policies he implemented related to these since he took office as head of state.
The only prominent change now being implemented is the reduction of the budgets of SUC’s (State Universities and Colleges). There is now even a move to scrap the policy of free college education in such universities and colleges. As argued by top guns of government behind that proposal, it would be better to just provide scholarships to those who are really deserving—those who are poor but are academically competent. The arguments would be a good subject matter but it will be a very long story, so some other time.
But indeed, the welfare of teachers and non-academic personnel of schools must be prioritized. This, however, must go hand in hand with a stricter screening process as to who could become teachers.
Certainly, the most important qualification is knowledge on the subject matters a teacher would teach. Another is the ability to impart such knowledge to pupils and students in an interesting manner, not in a boring way.
Moreover, teachers must have a good grounding on socio-economic and political matters. These directly affect people’s lives, particularly the rudimentary principles of government and how politicians manipulate these to serve their vested interests and not those of the people.
As of now, teachers can hardly be called educated enough to mold students’ brains for the benefit of society after they leave the portals of their schools.
In this respect, the best definition of the word educated I ever came across is that of Shrii P. R. Sarker, the propounder of the Progressive Utilization Theory (PROUT– a.k.a. Progressive Socialism). He said, educated is he who has learned much, remembers much and able to apply these in practical life.
So are our teachers really educated? There was the results of the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) a few years back where our students landed last in the assessments. That speaks very poorly of our teachers.
More important, however, was when Joseph Estrada (Erap) first ran for president those who tried to campaign against him or for other candidates were shocked so many teachers were like immovable rocks for Erap. His lack of any qualification as a licensed professional did not matter to them. Not even his being a certified womanizer. All they cared for was his being good looking. Was that enough for one to become a competent president?
Even after Erap was convicted and jailed for plunder, he was still very popular among teachers. How can teachers vote for a plunderer? If Cory Aquino did not die of cancer, Erap could have beaten PNoy to the Presidency.
In short, not only are many or most of our teachers not educated. They even lack common sense.**
