World Teachers' Day

 To my mentors, we give you thanks on this day.

World Teachers' Day, held annually on October 5th since 1994, commemorates teachers’ organizations worldwide. Its aim is to mobilise support for teachers and to ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers. According to UNESCO, World Teachers' Day represents a significant token of the awareness, understanding and appreciation displayed for the vital contribution that teachers make to education and development.

"Teachers… ultimately determine our collective ability to innovate, to invent, to find solutions for tomorrow. Nothing will ever replace a good teacher. Nothing is more important than supporting them.” (Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General). The celebration focuses on the nobility of the profession itself and promotes international standards for the teaching profession.

THE Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has earlier called on the faithful to join the “National Prayer for Teachers”. The special prayer will ask God’s blessings for the teachers as they mould young minds and shape them to become future leaders. It will seek guidance for teachers as they continue to educate their students and help them become productive citizens. It is from teachers that young individuals learn important values that later on help shape their ideal and character such as honesty, discipline, skilled thinking, tenacity, patience, generosity, and the Golden Rule.


 
National Prayer for Teachers
Giver of all Wisdom and Greatest of all Teachers,
look upon our teachers with love.
Grant them the resolve to nurture our eager minds
and to never give up on us who fall behind.
 
Bless their hearts for they rejoice when we succeed
and encourage us when we fail.
Endow them with gentle patience
for the path of learning is never easy.
 
Kindle a spirit of passion in them.
It is the flame that ignites the love of learning in us.
Help them to see the potential in each student.
Their belief in us means much more than the grade we make.
 
Instill them a commitment to keep on learning.
It shows us to not fear new knowledge and experiences.
Inspire them to touch the future.
They influence how big a dream we dream for ourselves.
 
Bless our teachers who have come before
for their work endures to this day.
 
Let the light of Your example shine upon all teachers.
To build up with their words.
To love with their mind.
To share with their heart. AMEN.


The Editorial of Philippine Star last year  stressed that " if teaching has become a profession for the overworked and underpaid, it doesn’t have to be a thankless one.". It said:

"The Filipino educator gives justice to the description of teaching as a noble profession. Teachers are in the front line of efforts to instill in the nation’s most important resource, its human capital, the qualities needed for the Philippines to compete. The country has lagged behind many of its Asian neighbors in competitiveness. This can be attributed in part to a serious lack of qualified teachers. With many government workers protesting funding cuts and low pay, there is no satisfactory relief in sight for the country’s army of educators. But if teaching has become a profession for the overworked and underpaid, it doesn’t have to be a thankless one. In 1993, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization designated every Oct. 5 as World Teachers’ Day. This was in recognition of the role played by teachers in shaping the minds of the youth and in the life-long learning process."

 Indeed, Filipino educator gives justice to the description of teaching as a noble profession. But we have to face the fact that they are beset with many challenges, as  emphasized by Rep. Tinio in his privilege speech commemorating World Teachers' Day:

"The campaign of our teachers for a higher cash allowance represents only one facet of their struggle for just wages and benefits, humane working conditions, and for nationalist, scientific, and democratic education.  They call for a greater budgetary priority to education, through more significant subsidies for MOOE, personal services, and capital outlay in all levels of education, among others.  They appeal for security of tenure and just working conditions of work, for the regularization of volunteer and contractual teachers and for the proscription of the policy of precarious employment in the education sector.  They call on the government to cease resort to all policies whereby teachers suffer for the shortages due to misplaced priorities of the government and policies whereby they are penalized for inefficiencies and deficiencies in the bureaucracy, particularly with regard to their GSIS benefits.

 Let us honor our teachers.  Let us give them what is their due,