Help teachers, bishops urge gov’t

MANILA, Philippines–Catholic bishops have urged government officials to “go the extra mile” in supporting teachers as they deplored the plight of educators in the country.

In a statement, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said there was still much to be done to uplift the condition of teachers in the Philippines.

“If the issues hounding the teachers are effectively addressed, they would go a long way in delivering quality education to the students,” Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, CBCP president, said in a message on World Teachers’ Day on Oct. 5.

Villegas said this could be achieved with the help of legislators and budget officials continuing to support the education system, priests strengthening catechetical institutions and parishes being youth-friendly.

The prelate said it was strange that teachers who played a major role in delivering quality education had to undergo economic difficulties.

According to Villegas, low wages and heavy workloads, among other things, had diminished the “noblest of all professions.”

“Time and again we would hear stories of teachers going abroad for better pay as caregivers or domestic helpers. We have private school teachers migrating to public schools for higher pay because some private school salaries are so low they cannot even afford to raise a family,” he said.

“Yet, even the public school system with a relatively higher salary scale has its share of challenges for teachers. There is the challenge of multi-grade teaching, especially in schools located in the hinterlands,” said Villegas.

“There are principals who use part of their salaries to improve the condition of their schools, true stewards in the service of providing education for the nation. We have volunteer catechists who give religious instruction in the public schools without any pay at all,” he said.

“Some schools do not have the proper amenities, with buildings that are ready to collapse with the next natural disaster. Some do not have electricity and therefore are not conducive to learning, but the teachers continue to persevere anyway and make do with the available resources,” he said.

The CBCP urged young Filipinos to love and respect their teachers, noting that they “have sacrificed much of their lives to make you responsible members of society.”