ACCORDING to an online survey of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, more than 70 percent of teacher-respondents deem that distance learning workload has negative impacts on their physical and mental health, with 10 percent admitting to already falling ill due to the problems brought with distance learning and their burdensome duties.
We must raise alarm over serious welfare issues of public school teachers that greatly affect their health and capacities, which will also have adverse effects on the delivery of quality education amid the pandemic.
Teachers are our education frontliners. The government must also prioritize addressing their serious labor situation. This must be given due consideration in the planning for the opening of the next school year. There have been reports that some teachers’ health conditions are worsening due to the demands of their workload and the lack of support from the government to fulfill their duties. Hypertension, stress, lack of rest, blurred vision, involuntary muscle twitching, hand tremors, chronic back pain and depression among other symptoms are said to be caused by their overworked and underpaid welfare situation.
On top of the perennial problems of shortages in education, many problems in education emerged with the government’s blended distance learning. There are still shortages in gadgets, modules and access to the internet for both students and the teachers. On top of that, teachers are also expected to submit many reports on distance learning implementation that the Department of Education (DepEd) arbitrarily orders.
There are also many requirements for the teacher evaluation system Results-based Performance Management System, and the Learning Delivery Modality course modules that teachers are required to accomplish.
With these additional requirements and their teaching requirements, the eight-hour work rule is widely violated. According to the survey by ACT, 41% of teacher respondents from the National Capital Region (NCR) and 29% of those working outside Metro Manila said they work 9-16 hours a day and even beyond class days to be able to fulfill the requirements set by the DepEd.
With the extension of the school year, teachers would also be forced to render 77 days of overtime work on the extended working school year this year. Our public school teachers will be working for almost 13 months without an official summer break.
What has DepEd done to ease the workload of teachers and students amid the pandemic and remote learning via online or using the self-learning modules?
The primary responsibility in providing safe, quality and accessible education lies in the hands of the national government. Teachers have gone beyond what is asked from them and beyond what is provided by the government to make sure that they still are able to fulfill their duties as frontliners in education. Giving priority to the welfare of our teachers and education support personnel also shows how the government prioritizes education continuity and the youth’s right to quality education.
