Friday, February 7, 2014

Let Teachers Do What They Love To Do

Star Q



At the beginning when I was first posted twenty six years ago, school started at 7.40, just as it does now.  However, school was over at 1.30 in the afternoon back then.  There were very few meetings and teachers then really concentrated on what they were supposed to do as stated in their appointment letters; that is, to teach.

We still had co-curricular activities back then, but all three were done on Saturdays.  Funny thing was, teachers and students never complained about having to come on Saturdays to carry out co-curricular activities; and the attendance for both were almost always full!  I suppose this is due largely to the fact that both teachers and students did not feel taxed out from Monday to Friday.  Leaving the school at 1.30 every day also makes them miss their school all the more, which in turn makes them long to return to school.

In fact, we were so happy to be in school that quite a number of us who stayed nearby spent a lot of our free time in school after school.  Some came back in the afternoon or weekend to build the landscape of the school, plant flowers and trees, which were almost always never bought using the school money.  Teachers were willing and resourceful enough to establish small nurseries within the compounds of their own houses, planting in polybags, flowers that can be used for landscaping.  I remember having a small nursery of Golden Doriantas which I later used to create a small garden between the school laboratory and the library.

Teachers were willing to spend their money and time to draw murals on walls of the school at strategic locations, like the ones I did on the wall leading to the field and another wall leading to the office. 

We were even willing to spend extra time after school and during weekends to do up the special rooms like the school library; and there were no positions for Media Teachers then!  Aside from helping out with the three things mentioned above, I even helped to mow the grass around the school compound since there were no gardeners back then!

I guess with all the sacrifices that we made for our school back then, which we did willingly from the goodness of our hearts, it is not difficult to understand to see why you get teachers who are really teachers.  Teachers who help build the school; maybe not so much physically but spiritually. 

I feel teachers should love the school where they are teaching and in order for them to love school, they should be given time to express that love.  Time can be given to them by abolishing too many meetings, clerical work and unworldly designations.  Teachers will then do what they love to do.


Just like the blossoming flowers that these teachers plant in the school gardens, the students whom they teach will also blossom into respected and respectable adults.

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