Education plays an important role in progressing a nation especially for a developing country such as Malaysia. Malaysia’s Education Blueprint 2013-2025 requires educators to specialize in various fields such as language, science and mathematics. Hence, the demand for teachers as educators in schools around the country has gradually increased. Being a teacher is not as easy as one might think. As a future teacher myself, I would say that I am aware of the challenges I will be facing in the future. From the title above, one might have a general idea of what this article is all about.
I strongly believe that teaching is the most underpaid and underappreciated profession. For one thing, on average teachers in Malaysia make around RM34,840 a year. Although it sounds reasonable but that hardly take into account the work scope that a teacher has to cover. As I have mentioned earlier, teaching is definitely one of the most challenging careers out there. The Former Education Minister of Malaysia, Dr Maszlee Malik claimed that a total of 4.4 per cent or 2,123 teachers were identified as experiencing moderate stress level.
Several factors might have contributed to this daunting issue. One of them is mainly the bottomless workload. Having to control students and managed them for more than 6 hours everyday is undoubtedly difficult and tiresome. I personally think this is especially challenging for a new teacher as she or he are dealing with students with all sorts behaviour and background so different measures have to be employed to manage these students. To add on, teachers also have to deal with administration works, emails, assessment and grading after class.
Often times, teachers have to bring their work to be completed at home. This is because a teacher’s time is limited. Teachers must maximize their time with lesson planning and other administration work. Contrary to popular believes, teachers can rest during the long school holidays. That is not always the case. Teachers are sometimes required to attend meetings, conferences or just struggle to complete piles of school work during the holidays.
In conclusion, I am fully convinced that teaching is an underpaid and unappreciated profession mainly because of the lower wage compares to the amount of work they have to do. Most of the time teachers have to even spend their own money to be spent on classroom supplies. I also think teachers do not get enough recognition for their hard work mostly because people are rarely exposed to their field of work.