We once again celebrate World Teachers Day. Through the years, the celebration has become more dramatic.
Originally, however, Unesco premised its establishment of the celebration on “education as a fundamental human right.” In 1966, “The Special Intergovernmental Conference on the Status of Teachers" explored the role of teachers in human development across societies.
It is high time for schools and teachers to retrieve this lost, if not disregarded, essence of Teachers’ Day.
Despite all our romanticization of the “selflessness of teachers”, they are, among some other professionals, most exploited in various economies across the globe.
In the Philippine context, the education sector is hemorrhaging due to the ongoing external migration of teachers. In the face of tough market conditions, the country is losing its teachers to US and even to its neighboring countries like Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Schools are trying their very best to keep their teachers. This they have been doing even with less government assistance, if any. However, in-house strategies can only do enough to keep our teachers. A few benefits may hold teachers for a few years, but until when and how, only time will tell.
Unless the government intervenes at the macro-level and implements some restrictions or adds incentives, nothing will change.
A few years back, sociology professor Randy David mentioned in a gathering in Cebu City the idea of exempting teachers from income tax.
This may not be a perfect suggestion, but perhaps it can be considered.
The government may also require education graduates to stay and serve the country for at least five years before they can be allowed to go abroad. Apparently, this proposal carries some legal issues. However, if there is a will, there is a way.
Admittedly, an economy that cannot provide jobs can only export its citizens, like rice or bananas.
What more can a state that is beholden to global neoliberalism offer except the spoils that this so-called globalization can offer? We simply must admit that, in relation to our so-called “economic” and “political” partners (US and even China), we are nothing but a minor player.
There is nothing wrong with celebrating Teachers’ Day. Thank our teachers and appreciate their efforts. But perhaps a socio-political critique of their working conditions won’t spoil the celebration.
In fact, the celebration would have a much deeper existential meaning if someone would verbalize the “truths” about the profession. Truths that not many would dare say because either we are in denial or we do not want to be hurt further.
If we truly love and care for our teachers, however, they deserve something greater than all these congratulatory remarks.
Nothing is more meaningful than teachers who are laborers – treated more justly in the workplace. Nothing is as priceless as teachers being considered valuable resources in the country’s national development blueprint. Unless larger structural adjustments were made, all these tributes and greetings would be nothing but mouthfuls and repetitious flatteries.
May we walk with our teachers not just in joy and gratitude but also in their fight for social justice. After all, when Unesco first declared The World Teachers’ Day, it emphasized no less the need to “recognize the essential role of teachers in educational advancement and the importance of their contribution to the development of man and modern society.”*