It is certain that we have seen posts in social media about the perceptible fatigue of teachers in the forefront of on-site lesson delivery. In the Basic Education and High School level we have seen and heard cases of which teachers are literally and figuratively dying and most of them are verbalizing their complaints on the readily available social media.
There are reputable and trustworthy websites who had looked into these realities and they are looking into the cases with magnifying lenses and they are not militant groups.
This link https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/survey-alarming-number-educators-may-soon-leave-profession, is a US based website and the banner story on this website and still up today reads ; A staggering 55 percent of educators are thinking about leaving the profession earlier than they had planned, according to a National Education Association (NEA) survey of its members released on Tuesday. This represents a significant increase from 37 percent in August and is true for educators regardless of age or years teaching, driving buses, or serving meals to students. However, the poll found that a disproportionate percentage of Black (62%) and Hispanic/Latino (59%) educators, already underrepresented in the teaching profession, were looking toward the exits. (Tim Walker February 2022).
In the Philippines we have seen how teachers are saddled with Administrative Works and how these dynamics had created sad realities for the physical and mental states of the overworked teachers.
In Leyte National High School ,the biggest enrollees totaling more than ten thousand on site students, it is true. The Junior and Senior High School, teachers are subjected to the constant crowding and heat. With Class size of more than 30 students with two shifts per week, the teachers are tired and it is not an over statement. They have to simultaneously conduct these classes at two shifts per week and do the administrative tasks all at the same time. These realities need no citation nor quote to support the claim, it is a personal knowledge and this phenomenon is observable every single day.
It’s not only the teachers which are on the tight grip of these drowning learning reality, the students too. They too, are going through a very tough time emotionally. The teachers in spite of her shackles of physical and mental pressures that drains her persona, he or she has the unique position to augment and assist students at risk of mental breakdown.
Perhaps, it would not be written as a sort of statistics but the teachers have prevented suicides and that only the students can validate this. But surely, they had prevented many of those. The students can also lessen the burden of their teachers by the interactions they have with them. The inspiration and sense of fulfillment they have for the students who are doing good.
In all the school is also a real consultation room where the interaction of the teacher and the students can lighten the burdens of each other. These symbiotic interdependence is galvanized in stone. The idea that both these segments of our educational players needs help is old news. Old news or not they need institutionalized assistance, now more than ever. They need our help and understanding.
