Briones Salutes Teachers in K to 12 Success

As the Department of Education (DepEd) rolls out Grade 12 in 2017, Secretary Leonor Magtolis-Briones reminded educators and education managers about the role of education in shaping and shifting the future of Filipinos.

“’Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world, that weapon is in our hands.’ That weapon we are going to discuss for the next two days,” Briones said, quoting Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela. Addressing more than 1,000 participants of the 2nd National K to 12 Conference at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), the Education Chief pointed out that many of the most brilliant people in the world, including Nobel Prize winners, are and were teachers.

The profession, while commonly described as “exploited, underpaid, and underappreciated,” continues to see 674,547 practitioners attending to the needs of 25,353,594 learners in the country. While teaching is often perceived to involve “so much suffering,” the Filipinos’ love and reverence for teachers prove otherwise.

“When you are caught doing something which is against the teaching of the teacher, they will say, ‘Teacher says you should not do that’. . . Business and civic organizations compete with each other in paying tribute to outstanding teachers and granting financial rewards. . . Teachers throughout history have always been revered – think Gautama Buddha, think Nelson Mandela, think Jesus Christ who was always addressed by His disciples, not as ‘Your Royal Highness,’ ‘Your Holiness,’ he was always addressed as ‘teacher’,” the Secretary pointed out. According to Briones, teachers are conduits of fervor, who pass on their passion so that their students may dream and achieve big.

Come June and with the arrival of the Grade 12 learners, the Secretary challenged teachers to help students discover new and exciting paths; have them know and love their country more; help them discover things they never knew before; teach them skills they did not yet have; and make them become better human beings and citizens of the country and the world.

With these, teachers have followed the path of the greatest teacher of all, and may even stir the potential of the next Nobel laureate sitting quietly in their classrooms. (DepEd)