Teaching no longer considered a noble, rewarding profession

An acquaintance recently asked me why I am no longer passionate about teaching. I told him that the profession had lost the glamour of yesteryears.

Most most students pursuing university education will select to pursue the teaching programme  as a last option.

This is because teachers have been frustrated for too long. For example after a recent court ruling that ended the five-week long nationwide strike, teachers have still not been paid  their salaries

The legendary Philosopher, Aristotle, once said: “Those who educate children well are more to be honoured than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those, the art of living well.”

Our responsibility as teachers at times overwhelms us.

We carry the burden of developing some of the country‘s best brains. I, like most teachers, feel greatly disturbed when my students fail to realise their full potential.

Last Saturday during the Ng‘iya Girls Hich School‘s Journalism Club party for the Form Fours, I was perturbed by a question that one of the students asked me.

One of the girls wanted to know if I would still be a teacher in another 10 years. I responded that I would not.

Ours is indeed a dog‘s profession. The joy of any tutor is to see students excel in their carrier path.

Most of us, especially in the national schools, realise this objective.

A good number of my former students are in public universities pursuing courses that could land them well paying jobs in marketable professions. Students like Diana Ochieng‘ and Sharan Ogolla are in their final year undertaking a Medical undergraduate degree course  at Moi and Kenyatta universities respectively.

Having trained such brains, how can one claim that we are a lazy lot?

Recently when the court ruled that the teachers strike be suspended for 90 days, the same court ordered the Teacher Service Commission (TSC) not to victimise any teacher.

The court further directed the TSC to pay all the teachers who had participated in the nationwide strike.

It is now a fortnight since the strike ended and the employers are yet to abide by this ruling. We are back in class literally on an empty stomach.

TSC has insisted on employing substitute teachers against a court ruling.

Young graduates be warned. The Teachers Service Commission will not necessarily look after your interests.

Notice that the TSC procured funds to   hire 70,000 relief teachers when it reported that it was cash-strapped and could not pay teachers legitimately negotiated salaries.

We are setting a dangerous trend and if we are not careful, many young people will avoid seeking to become teachers.

I call upon the Ministry of Education to restore sanity in the sector.

Oumah Otienoh - Ng‘iya Girls, Siaya