Friday, October 06, 2006 Speak out: ‘Lechon’ for a school supervisor By Wilfredo G. Anoos CSCST-San Francisco, Camotes, Cebu Campus
ONE of the problems in the Philippine education system is teachers’ incompetence.
The teaching profession has never been so criticized as these times, reducing its attractiveness. Thus, majority of high school graduates choose other courses instead of teaching.
As a result, other colleges set high standards for admission because of the number of enrollees, and those who fail end up enrolling in teachers’ colleges that readily accept them.
From the start, therefore, the best candidates for the teaching profession do not enroll in it.
Then there is the reality of politics and graft and corruption in the process of hiring new teachers in public schools. My wife was a victim of this.
As a teaching applicant in DepEd Cebu Province Division, she underwent personal interviews, written exams and teaching demonstrations.
The applicants were ranked according to the points they earned from scholastic records, level of school where the applicant graduated, interviews, exams and demonstration.
Evaluation ranked her number one in a secondary school in Minglanilla, Cebu.
Since the division had yet to receive the budget for new teachers, she offered to become a volunteer teacher.
This was denied, as schools already have volunteer teachers, some of them serving for almost five years and receiving a monthly honorarium of P3,000 from the municipal government and the Parent Teachers Associations.
My wife did not lose hope until she learned from the volunteer teachers that they will be prioritized for hiring once the budget arrives; in the end, the “ranking” will become “wrongking,” meaning it won’t matter in the hiring.
What a waste of time!
The principal later told my wife that she should befriend a certain supervisor and take up a masters’ degree in the college where the supervisor is a professor.
“Adto man gani mi ron sa ilang Nanay (supervisor) magdala ko og litson kay birthday niya,” she added.
My wife now believes stories told about teacher applicants required by the supervisors to report in their offices at 5 p.m. (P5,000), 6 p.m. (P6,000), etc.
Recommendations:
1. So the teaching profession will attract the best high school graduates, teachers’ salaries should be made competitive.
2. Teachers’ schools should set high admission standards to ensure that those admitted are capable of becoming good teachers.
3. In hiring public school teachers, administrators should adhere to the ranking in the rank list.
