Remembering why I teach in the Philippines

On the way home tonight, I was listening to the radio and heard commentaries about teachers being disenfranchised in this 2010 elections. The way I understood it (pardon me, I wasn’t really listening very much because I was so exhausted!) some teachers discovered that their voters registration status was deactivated and some of them will not be able to cast their votes this year because of the new ruling of the Commission of Elections which does not allow them to vote in the precinct they are assigned in. This was quite disheartening because by doing their job, they lose their right to suffrage.

It’s sad to hear about the plight of teachers in our country. They work very hard to make a difference in the lives of the students they teach but they do not always receive the support they need from the government. This is just one example. There are so many opportunities for employment abroad but they’re still here. Teachers in the public school system also have to deal with so much politicking and red tape which can limit them from flourishing in their jobs. Another saddening fact is that while the teachers have the heart to teach, they lack resources such as classrooms and textbooks, to do so.

As for me, I still want to believe that teaching in the Philippines is a worthwhile profession.  It just gets harder and harder every year to remember why I keep holding on to teaching here when I see my counterparts succeeding financially by taking on teaching jobs in various parts of the world. Not only do they get paid better, they also have more resources within their reach. I guess one reason I still stay is because I really have been blessed by the institutions I work for, even though the compensation is much lower than if I taught in the US.

I pray that the next administration that will be elected this Monday will finally value edcation the way it should be valued. For now, I will still stay and pray hard that I can hold on to my determination to be a teacher here in the Philippines.