MATATAG CURRICULUM: NEW HOPE FOR TEACHERS

MICHAEL M. DELA CRUZ

“Teachers must return to our classrooms and they must teach.” This is the statement that enlivens teachers’ hope as they listen to Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte during the conduct of Basic Education Report of 2023.

Teachers are regarded as the “soul” of the Department of Education who continue to work hard in promoting DepEd advocacy on quality basic education. However, low academic performance is always blamed to teachers. The system usually regarded this as “teacher factor.” Does the system know the behind the scenes of these results? This dilemma is often suffered by teachers. The teacher is considered as a stream of knowledge and skills to whom students learn new things and develop these given skills, values and attitudes. On the other hand, there are factors that affect the roles of teachers before, during and after the teaching-learning process. Such include the administrative tasks, clerical works or the most commonly called “paper works.”

There are common tasks that a teacher must prepare before she moves into her class— Preparing Daily Lesson Plan, Creating Power point presentation, Downloading lesson-related videos and Designing interactive activities. Tasks which are done in school or most of the time, at the teacher’s home. Home? Yes! A teacher has a home too. A home where her family lives. He is a human being with a wife and children. Children who also need quality time with the “sir” of the family. Yet, a part of this “a must quality time” is often sacrificed even weekends due to urgent reports and deadlines.

A teacher before he steps into his classroom, is equipped with knowledge and teaching strategies that will suit the different needs of his learners. He is excited to execute the lesson and provide interactive activities which he always prepared. He even had his learners enjoy learning with enthusiasm. Yet the momentum is changed to another scenario— from the planned varied activities he has prepared to an unexpected meeting, urgent report and deadlines. This is the reality.

These real-life situations in the field are the unseen sacrifices or burdens of teachers. The factors behind the so-called “teacher factor”. Fortunately, the new DepEd Secretary has started recognizing these things. In her Basic Education Report of 2023, it was stated that teachers appear to have insufficient knowledge on developing 21st century skills, including higher-order thinking skills among learners. Teachers are not held responsible for this but the system itself. The system has failed the teachers who were burdened with backbreaking and time-consuming administrative tasks, a system that provides no adequate support and robs them of the opportunity to professionally grow and professionally teach, assist, and guide learners. So much is expected from our DepEd Secretary. At this moment, teachers have seen a silver lining in the DepEd system. The joy in every teacher’s heart and the burning desire to teach were enliven with VP Duterte’s statement, “Teachers must return to our classrooms and they must teach.”

-oOoThe author is Teacher III at Camba National High School