NO GREATER LOVE IN EDUCATION

MARECIL M. GERMONES

The holy scriptures tell us that “There is no greater love than he who gives his life for his friends.”

This is a love that is reflected daily in the conditions of the educators who are in the front lines of our fight against ignorance. Teachers love the learners far greater than their love for themselves. Time and time again we have seen and we have experienced this as educators ourselves or as learners when we were younger.

February is the month of love and hearts, and there and one of the greatest love that we have ever witnessed is the love of our educators for learning and the learners. Educators will never hesitate to work and to spend for the learners, as if it's their own household, during brigada eskwela season, the love for learners that they have not even met yet is expressed by preparing the school premises to be conducive and to be hospitable to the learners despite the limited amount of budget and resources the government provides, teachers extend their own pockets to finance and to provide the needs of the room and the school for the students to be able to learn in the best environment they could provide. There is a reason why they call the school as their second home, and one reason for this is that teachers serve as second parents, other than the facilities we have heard and witnessed countless stories of teachers being the confidant and being part of the emotional and social support mechanism of the learners, despite their own personal struggles our educators would always attentively listen and comfort when we need them just like parents who you can run to when in need, emotionally teachers are always available. Teachers also spend almost their entire adult lives in the school and doing the work of the school. Teaching is not just a vocation, teaching is martyrdom for education it is living and spending your productive life contributing to the progress of the nation and fighting even if the odds are against your favor. To all teachers out there happy love month and thank you for the love and for continuously loving and protecting the hope of our nation.