FROM THE FRINGES: Thank you, teachers!

FROM THE FRINGES: Thank you, teachers!

By Jerome Aning | October 2, 2026

October 5 is World Teachers’ Day (WTD), an occasion to celebrate teachers and their vital role in educating our youth, the hope of the nation. “It is a day to celebrate how teachers are transforming education, to reflect on the support they need to fully deploy their talent and vocation, and to rethink the way ahead for the profession globally,” UNESCO says on its website. First celebrated in 1994, WTD is held on the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, which set benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers, and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions. Worldwide celebrations are organized by UNESCO, UNICEF, the International Labor Organization, and the Brussels-based Education International, the global federation of teachers’ trade unions covering 178 countries and territories.

With the 1966 Recommendation marking its 60th anniversary, the theme adopted for WTD 2026 is “Standing with teachers: 60 years of protecting the profession, advancing its status and shaping our futures.” The 2026 commemoration, according to UNESCO, “will center on reviewing the current challenges related to teacher status and the strategies to address them, calling on society and policy-makers to protect, promote and elevate that status.” UNESCO noted in the past six decades, new challenges have emerged for the teaching profession, such as the increasing use of digital technologies, climate change, and concerns about inclusion, migration and displacement. “These pressures affect several dimensions of the status of teachers: their symbolic status, when teaching is not sufficiently recognized or valued; their professional status, shaped by limited autonomy, support or voice in policy-making; and their material status, compromised by salaries, workloads and working environments that do not allow teachers to fully exercise their role,” it said.

In the Philippines, Republic Act No. 10743, approved by President Benigno S. Aquino III in 2016, officially declared Oct. 5 as National Teachers’ Day (NTD). Aquino also issued Proclamation No. 242, in 2011, setting Sept. 5 to Oct. 5 of every year as National Teachers’ Month (NTM). The nationwide celebration of the 2026 NTM, with the theme “Teacher, Ikaw Naman”, was launched last Sept. 5 in Cagayan de Oro City by the Department of Education (DepEd) led by Secretary Sonny Angara. DepEd Memorandum No. 51, series of 2026, issued last Aug. 29, states that NTM, NTD and WTD aim to honor and celebrate individuals in the teaching profession and to “acknowledge and emphasize on the crucial role, loyal service and dedicated commitment of teachers in developing globally minded citizens, nurturing families, strengthening communities and building the nation.” The celebrations, the DepEd said, are an occasion to revitalize the image of and respect for teaching as a vocation by increasing public awareness of the value of teachers in Philippine society, and also to serve as an opportunity to build the image of teaching an attractive and fulfilling profession, cultivate widespread support and assistance for teachers, and express gratitude for the positive influence of teachers on Filipino learners.

I profusely thank my teachers in elementary, high school and college who recognized my aptitudes and honed my skills in literature, language and writing that helped a lot in preparing me for the career in journalism that I eventually chose. Not being very fond of math subjects, I leaned towards the humanities and social science sides of the academic discipline. I am thus grateful to my teachers and professors in history, geography, economics, political science, Rizal, philosophy, theology and other sciences who imparted general and specific knowledge that aided me a lot in covering news and writing stories. Being less busy with media work nowadays, I hope to find time to visit soon my favorite teachers and mentors who are still teaching or who have already retired.

I have always been drawn to the teaching profession as my paternal grandmother, mother, several aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well as many friends in college, were teachers, instructors and professors. When I was a newly-minted newspaper reporter, I recalled telling an editor that I might leave the media industry after a few years, pursue graduate studies, and eventually become a teacher. The editor, however, suggested I stay around, saying a reporter who plans to teach should become a “student of life” first and media work can offer one plenty of things to know and learn about various fields of life that one cannot get in school. As fate would have it, I got stuck with media work which I found to be an interesting career. It turned out that the Aristotelian paradox, “the more you know, the more you know you don’t know,” also applies to journalism, which, like other professions, is a life-long learning process.

As a journalist, I briefly covered the education beat but I still got to write about education-related topics and met education sector leaders and advocates while assigned to cover civil society, the legislature, labor, tourism, cultural agencies, local governments and even the judiciary. This increased my appreciation of the other aspects of a teacher’s life that students and the public do not always see. We often regard teachers as transmitters of knowledge and values, but teaching for them is also a source of income, as many have children to raise or other dependents to support. We often hear about teachers engaging in small businesses or “sidelines” to make ends meet, or deciding to work overseas, not necessarily as teachers, where the pay is better. The issue of increasing teachers’ wages and other benefits is always connected with upholding their dignity as workers and honoring the central role they play in educating the youth, who, like their teachers, will also become part of the labor force someday.

The recent incidents of school violence and crimes involving students also highlighted the role of teachers as “second parents” and their responsibilities “in loco parentis”, a Latin phrase meaning “in the place of a parent”. Teachers and educational institutions are expected to not only provide high-quality education but also spaces where the young ones can study free from physical injury, health hazards, and emotional or mental stresses. Concerns about students’ safety have now extended into cyberspace, resulting in proposals to restrict minors’ access to social media websites and mobile gaming apps However, ensuring children’s online safety and protection is not the sole task of the teachers and schools but also of the parents and the community. With most classes having dozens of students, being a second parent to each and every pupil is not easy for the teacher.

A PRAYER FOR TEACHERS

Look upon our teachers with love

Grant them the resolve

To nurture our eager minds

And to never give up on us who fall behind

Bless their hearts

For they rejoice when we succeed

And encourage us when we fail

Endow them with gentle patience

For the path of learning is never easy

Kindle a spirit of passion in them

It is the flame that ignites the love of learning in us

Help them see the potential in each student

Their belief in us means much more than the grade we make

Instill in them a commitment to keep on learning

It shows us to not fear new knowledge and experiences

Inspire them to touch the future

They influence how big a dream we dream for ourselves

Bless our teachers who have come before

For their work endures to this day

Let the light of Your example shine upon all teachers:

To build up with their words

To love with their mind

To share with their heart

Amen.

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