Forum: Relief teaching stint long ago convinced me not to enter the profession

Correspondent Elisha Tushara’s Opinion piece “Address teachers’ heavy workload, not just the inconveniences” (Sept 24) hit the nail on the head.

I was a relief form teacher in a primary school for only six months, covering a teacher on maternity leave.

With teaching, lesson preparation, preparing exam papers, marking, and writing student report cards, I was convinced not to enter the profession full-time or otherwise.

There were times when I had no time for even toilet or meal breaks.

If this was the situation more than 25 years ago, the range of duties that a teacher has to cover now makes the teacher’s role even more daunting.

Ms Tushara gave important suggestions for changing the school education system. Just as there are now vice-principals to help in academic and administrative duties, the Ministry of Education should seriously consider “specialist tracks” for education officers to, for example, teach subjects, manage co-curricular activities, or counsel and discipline students.

School leaders also should not have to take students to perform at all sorts of community events.

Events and celebrations involving large-scale participation of students should be reduced, as teachers are inevitably called upon to train and chaperone students.

Last but not least, the bell-curve ranking system for education officers can be demoralising. A former principal did not feel it was right to place any of her hardworking teachers into the last grade. Her solution – share her own bonus payment with these colleagues.

Chan Wai Han