3 facts about teaching in the Philippines, why I didn’t become one (even though my parents are

teachers)

Full disclosure: The author of this article is a teacher’s son. Both parents teach at a Philippine public
school.

I grew up in a family of educators. My parents are both public school teachers. They have taught
thousands of children since they started out in their careers in the summer of 1990. It’s also in that same
elementary school located in the mountains of Nueva Vizcaya where they met and why I am born into
this world.

So, if I am to write an article about teachers, believe me, I know the joys, pain and struggles they go
through, and which also I experienced first hard.

My friends in the medical profession usually have parents who are physicians. Same is true with most of
my friends in business, their parents are also business people. I chose not to become a teacher.

As fate would have it, I’m currently doing business. I cover over 15 countries for my work. I crisscross the
globe from Dubai, to Dusseldorf, Singapore, Yangon dropping by Seoul and landing in the tropical city of
Jakarta for a meeting then catching up with a business partner in Bangkok – all in a week!

Having ventured into the risky world of entrepreneurship, I own several businesses and a small social
enterprise which is particularly engaged in supporting teachers and their children like myself. Thanks to
my parents who molded me with values and work ethics that made me who I am now.

Going to the gist of why I wrote this article, why I didn’t become a teacher myself (and my confession
that I initially wanted to be one), I want to share about my parent’s journey being teachers and the
current state of all other educators in the Philippines, if I may speak on their behalf.

1) Filipino teachers take care of hundreds of children in a day yet pay is still meager, scanty,
insufficient

There are several articles that took rounds in social media recently which are seemingly click baits! Yes, I
mean it. Everyone in social media talks about ‘salary increase’ yet when I asked my parents, they don’t
seem to feel any of the said ‘increase’ being implemented.

The publicity doesn’t seem to reach my parents’ pay slip.

2) Filipino teachers study hard to become teachers, submit hundreds of reports yet support from
DepEd fails to consider that teachers are ‘humans’ who need ‘motivation’

What would happen if in a factory’s assembly line, workers are asked to increase output more than what
they can normally produce? Workers complain. Some quit.

I am not an education expert but if there’s one thing that I know about, it’s being human. Human beings
have limitations. Human beings are emotional. Not robots.

In the premise of a factory, workers who perform well and produce beyond expected outputs are given
incentives. Yes, motivation works. But in DepEd’s case, any promised incentive fails to compare vs what
they expect from teachers. It’s a classic example of human motivation, expectations vs rewards and
employer to employee relationship. In principle, every extra work done should be compensated
accordingly.

In the Philippines, when a teacher works extra hours and days in school during weekends to fulfill DepEd
requirements, no financial incentive is provided as compensation. Teachers are still expected to
‘volunteer’ their time.

3) Filipino teachers give their best to everyone’s children, yet public and private banks and
institutions and even seemingly good businesses prey on them

Have you ever met a Filipino teacher without a loan from GSIS, Landbank or your friendly rural bank?
When you meet one, you should bow down.

To provide a shelter for me and my siblings, my father had to bite into a high interest loan from a
government-owned lender. It took him decades to pay the loan and being a teacher by profession, the
only way he can pay back is by working for the same government who loaned the money (plus the
exorbitant interest) similar to what a shark lender offers.

Call it a reality in life, but if one day you meet your child’s teacher and they are doing side business like
selling phone loads in class, maybe you need to ask why they do what they do.

Of course, that’s because teachers have families to feed and support. In my parent’s case, they have 3
children who depend on them for tuition money and daily food. So, if you bring to school several
complaints, maybe you should also understand the circumstances of being a teacher.

We can do something about it, let’s begin by acknowledging and appreciating our teachers. Filipinos and
our government value our children, the youth, we should start to take care of our teachers, at the very
least.

BONUS: Yes, more than thanking a teacher, I started a Facebook group called Education PH. You can
join, just like it. I want to provide motivation and in some cases assistance to teachers and everyone
who wants to make the education system in the Philippines better.