SINCE July, the cosmos was so kind enough to let me share what little I learned about journalism to the different elementary and secondary schools in Northern Mindanao. There have been many invitations because I only requested that my professional fees will be charged only to food, transportation, and accommodation – no more extras.
True enough, after many decades the campus journalism scenario in the country remains an underlying issue of actual journalism practice and theoretical rendition of different journalism schools. But campus journalism is just one of the many struggles in our education system – more so for a school teacher.
There are schools that have the capacity to support campus journalism activities, but there are those that can’t, not because they want to ignore it, but because resources and manpower are underwhelming – not to mention the piles of paper works that need to be done in every month, quarter, and year.
Paper works and other functions beyond the mandate of teaching make teachers not only as educators but also a multitasking, jack of all trades manager.
One teacher I talked expressed that in as much as they are passionate in taking care of campus journalism in their school, there are other functions they also need to address as part of hitting the targets. Sometimes, they have been so busy with working on administrative and clerical matters to the point that educating children have become secondary.
In Congress, there have been attempts to pass House Bills that aimed in improving the welfare of public school teachers, however, there are times it is sidelined to a more “important” bills, such as those priorities this current administration is undertaking.
But while bills are but forms of promises until passed as laws, the Department of Education, I believe, is never blind to the plights of these multitasking teachers.
Every year, millions of college graduates not only education majors are looking for jobs. DepEd could have hired many of these jobseekers to function as support units for teachers to do the paper works and other non-teaching functions. Because why not? A separate division of DepEd with a sole mandate to become the workforce in implementing and working with teachers to comply all the necessary administrative tasks can be very beneficial.
That way, teachers can focus on improving their teaching methods and approaches, let alone have the time to grow by pursuing graduate studies and even research work. I understand that DepEd is one of the government agencies being bombarded with other government and non-government programs, and as obedient public servants, most of DepEd personnel and teachers do their jobs well – sometimes taking extra effort just to fulfill the objectives.
However, employing support units for teachers can become a challenge, especially how will it get a decent pay grade and most of all, how much the Congress will allocate funds to add in the yearly budget request for DepEd. But it should be the primary concern of DepEd and the Congress to find ways in making this workable.