Sen. Gatchalian urges DepEd to free teachers from heavy workload to prevent burnout

On Thursday, October 1, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to construct a plan or guidelines that would help public school teachers following the concerns of a teachers' group that teachers are burning out and stressed due to congested workload. Gatchalian said it is important to spare teachers from a heavy workload to prevent burnout.

Photo credit: headtopics.com

The senator pointed out teachers and principals are multi-tasking ahead of the October 5 class opening. Aside from preparing for the learning materials, including printing self-learning modules that would be distributed to students, teachers and principals are also attending webinars and completing courses on different learning modalities.

Giving countless amount of work to public school teachers would increase their stress and anxiety levels said Gatchalian. In due course, it will hinder them from giving quality instruction and their effectiveness as a teacher to a millions of learners enrolled this academic year.

Ang ating mga guro at punong-guro ay maituturing nating mga frontliners sa pagpapatuloy ng edukasyon sa kabila ng banta ng COVID-19. Bahagi ng ating pangangalaga sa kanilang kapakanan ay ang panigurong hindi sila natatabunan ng napakaraming gawain,

Gatchalian said in a statement.

[Our teachers and principals can be considered frontliners in the continuation of education despite the threat of COVID-19. Part of our concern for their welfare is to ensure that they are not overwhelmed by too much work.]

Kung sa simula pa lang ng klase ay pagod na ang ating mga guro, hindi magiging lubusang mabisa ang pagtuturo kung hindi sila nakatutok nang husto dito,

the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture further said.

[If our teachers are tired from the start of classes, they wouldn’t be able to effectively teach our students if they are not focused on this.]

Gatchalian said he will seek an inquiry into the status of the implementation of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers to ascertain the living and working conditions of public school teachers.

We are all witnesses to the many sacrifices of our teachers who have been struggling to adapt to the new normal way of teaching students through various modalities. They never stop in their efforts to reach out to all students to make sure that they will be onboard when classes open on October 5. We are proud of them!

Gatchalian said.