A teacher is a person who inspires and encourages students to strive for greatness, live to their fullest potential and see the best in themselves. They not only teach academic lessons but also life lessons.

Sadly, the majority of teachers' time is consumed by administrative chores, committee duties, meetings, school events and other miscellaneous matters which do not contribute to students' development ("Slightly higher resignation rate among teachers in first 5 years"; Nov 8).

I have seen the amount of work my children's teachers have to do, and it is mind-boggling.

The majority of teachers report to work at 7am, leave school at 5.30pm, and continue marking papers at home after that. They can be called back to work after school hours, at times which are meant for rest and recuperation.

Marking workloads and deadlines during the mid-year and year-end periods are immense and overwhelming, with many teachers having to mark hundreds of essays and papers over two to three weeks.

All this is on top of their teaching duties and other odd jobs they have to do.

Does the Ministry of Education have strategies in place to arrest these problems for the betterment of our educators?

Perhaps it could purchase group health insurance policies to protect the health of our educators, or provide them with pensions.

A task force committee needs to be convened to study how to recognise our educators and lessen their workload.

V. Balu