Happy Teachers’ Day to all teachers!
As described by UNESCO – Held annually on 5 October since 1994, World Teachers’ Day commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. This Recommendation sets benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions.
For many of us, it’s only when we become adults that we truly appreciate the value of teachers in our lives, at a stage when we are free of teachers so to speak. As kids we are in awe and respectful of teachers. As adolescents, we are respectful and interested. As young adults we are respectful but we validate what we are taught against our own readings and researches. It’s when we become adults that we view our teachers vis-à-vis society and realize the critical importance they play.
Teachers are a breed set apart.
They are role models
Even the simplest teachers in the simplest settings make the best and the most of their situation. I observed this in my own family, in school and among my high school classmates/school mates who have pursued teaching as a profession. They are community leaders in one way or another. Society somehow expect them to practice what they preach that if they teach Good Manners and Right Conduct we trust them to embody these. And they don’t fail us, if there are exceptions they’re a small percentage of the teaching force.
They have the ability and power to educate
Teachers have this power in them to shape young minds. They have this ability to simplify bits of knowledge in a way that is understandable. Those bits of knowledge we absorbed from them are instilled in our minds and become the building blocks of further knowledge we acquire. The ABCs, one-two-threes, do-re-mis or the so-called 3 Rs -reading, ‘riting, and ’ rithmetic that we take for granted today were first introduced to us by our teachers. They prepared the groundwork for the future knowledge.
They are true to their calling
This is so evident during the pandemic as they cope with the demands of the new normal. Many of them are not techies but they learn the technology needed to educate via distance learning. In some situations they have to educate the parents too in addition to the pupils or students. And in case of teachers in the barrios, we see them delivering modules to the students amidst the weather condition (it’s rainy season now in the Philippines) and bad roads or lack of them. Some of them even have to cross rivers.
They give guidance
Teachers are the first to notice the special talents or strengths and weaknesses of a child in a social setting ( I say this because parents also do when the kids are still pre-school age). They plan and steer their mentoring based on their observations. Kids approach them first before a Guidance Counselor probably because of more regular interactions with them. And for teachers in depressed areas , they act as financial advisors.
They are multi- skilled
Teachers who teach in grade school and some in high school handle multiple subjects and even multiple grades/levels in some areas. The public elementary school teachers are tapped by the government to do varied functions in addition to their teaching jobs. They usually serve during elections in various capacities whether officer or clerk. Organizations approach them to promote advocacies like environmental consciousness, Boy and Girl Scouting , community beautification and other community development endeavors.
Thank you dear teachers !
Just Sharing 
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