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Nov 4, 2004
Don't let teachers suffer in silence
I MET UP with several of my old friends who are in the teaching
service recently. Inevitably, the subject of teaching cropped up in
our conversations.
The experience of most of them is, however, far from that portrayed
in the recruitment advertisements. The main grievance is not with
the nature of the profession. All of them expressed great
satisfaction in being able to improve the grades and lives of their
students in their own way.
From my anecdotal findings, the chief cause of contention is that
of the management of the schools. The common complaints are:
# Long working hours. Most teachers spend more than 12 hours on the
job every day during term time, arriving in school before sunrise
and leaving after dark.
Not only do they have to hold remedial classes - until about 2.30pm
- but they also have to clear a barrage of administrative and
'special' projects imposed by their heads of department or
principal.
The day, however, does not end after they get home as, with no time
to mark scripts in school, they have to bring them back as
homework. They would probably have to sit under the table lamp with
the pile of papers till 11.30pm or later. I know of teachers who
have only two to three hours of sleep each day for the entire
week.
# While many of my friends seem to be able to cope with the
emotional strain of managing their students (as well as their
parents), they appear to be significantly more pressured by their
superiors in school. In most cases, the management of their schools
is unreasonable in its demands and unsympathetic to their needs and
welfare.
# Teachers are unable to spend more time with their students or are
just barely clearing their workload as they have to attend courses
and workshops mandated by the Ministry of Education (MOE) which
they found at times to be irrelevant and frivolous.
While these may be common grouses in all industries and
professions, the situation seems to be endemic in the teaching
profession. From what I heard, there are apparently few meaningful
avenues for teachers to seek help and redress at a higher and more
impartial level without facing repercussions.
They therefore feel that they are in a situation where when their
principals or heads of department say 'jump!', they have to say
'how high?'. Hence quitting has become one option for many. While
figures are not publicly available, I am sure that the turnover is
relatively high.
The once-noble profession of teaching has been undermined by
mismanagement. One teacher said: 'In the past, we were like gods.
Now we are like dogs.'
From the concerns about the broad changes to the education system
down to even the details of a PSLE science exam, it seems to me and
many teachers that more attention is being paid to the student. In
the process, we have left the teacher out of the equation.
While I am not in the teaching profession, I feel the need to bring
into the open the difficulties faced by teachers in carrying out
their duties. While parents and students have their own
prerogatives, I urge them to show more respect and understanding to
teachers.
The same goes for school managements which should see their staff
as human beings to be nurtured, instead of machines to be
exploited.
For the MOE, I think it is necessary to provide a more sensitive
bureaucratic system that allows the needs and problems of the
teachers to be carefully addressed.
Teachers should not be treated as gods or dogs. Neither should we
leave them to suffer in silence, for their problems would
inevitably become those of the school and society as well.
Liew Kai Khiun
(This article was published on the Straits Times Forum on Thursday,
Nov 4, 2004. Hope that more people who know's about plights of
teachers will speak up.)