I was scanning my e-mails, looking for ideas to write an article. It was then that I came across a funny e-mail about teachers.
The e-mail described teachers cheering and applauding whenever the authorities announce an extended vacation just like what happened this Ramadan.
Ironically, people working in the educational sector are the most pampered and spoiled in terms of how many vacations they get. In exchange for blabbering, teachers earn salaries and always call for fairness and justice. This is in spite of the fact that for almost half the year they are on vacations.
Each month, teachers get at least eight days of weekend holidays. If we multiply eight by 12 months then we have 96 days without work. In addition, there is the Eid Al-Fitr break that is at least 10 days, if not more, so the total adds up to 106 days. By adding the spring break which is at least 14 days and then 60 days of the summer vacation we have a total of 180 days which is almost half the year.
Teachers work half the year and for the other half of the year are on vacation. In spite of this pampering they remain inappreciative and continue to waste the other half of the year without involving themselves in any productive activities.
Still there are teachers who complain about the work pressure and the number of lessons that they have to teach. They always complain how school principals and supervisors never understand their struggle and the burden they carry. I think that on behalf of these poor teachers, who are tortured and tormented 180 days a year, I should request the Education Ministry to have mercy on them!
In fact, the weekly distribution of lessons among teachers would come down to 16 or 18 lessons a week, which means three to four hours of teaching a day. And if we want to calculate that one more time we would find that half the teachers teach only half the basic working hours.
Some of them run during their free time to follow up the stock market as if they own millions of riyals while their possessions may not exceed a couple of stocks. Others use the old-fashioned alibi, “I’m going to pick up my kids from school.” This is in spite of the fact that nowadays every house has a driver. If not then there are buses that they could use.
As for women teachers, they are mostly engaged in morning or afternoon tea or coffee chats that mainly involve gossiping and backbiting. Disaster happens when they actually argue and fight about who would go out and buy them breakfast or who would bring the coffee pot the next morning.
Each one’s schedule is actually booked with all these events of food and serving from the beginning of the week until the end. And you could imagine how such an atmosphere or environment is going to be.
Surprisingly, the education sector’s employees are the biggest complainers. They cite the excuse that they are bringing up tomorrow’s generation and for this they need all sorts of support. If we examine things closely as we did today, we’ll find that these teachers hardly know anything about their own children.
Teachers wasting time and effort is a major issue. Although people waste their time and effort in many other sectors and jobs, the educational sector is important because it is concerned with the upbringing and intellectual development of around five million boys and girls. Students seek education and teachers work to gain a source of income. They never look beyond considering the negative consequences.
