EDITORIAL - Need for teachers and cops must not prompt haste

The exhortation of Senator Ralph Recto for the government to hire more teachers and policemen is well taken. There is a real shortage in both professions in this country and the sooner it is filled up, the better for us.

The shortage of teachers is due to the fact that its low pay is discouraging students from taking up the course. Then the shortage is exacerbated by the exodus of teachers for better paying jobs overseas.

Even before some countries starting opening up teaching positions, Filipino teachers were already making a beeline for overseas deployment, even if it mean giving up their calling in favor of other jobs such as domestic help.

The shortage of policemen is, on the other hand, not an actual shortage brought on by the lack of interest in young people to take up the profession. Indeed, police recruitment is quite healthy, especially in the provinces.

Any shortage of policemen is due to the fact that the manpower has failed to keep in step with the rapid growth of the Philippine population. At the last birth rate of three babies per minute, no police-to-population ration could ever hope to achieve a realistic match.

But while there is a real need to raise the number of warm bodies in the teaching and police professions, it is always best to bear in mind that it is not sheer numbers that spell the difference between need and fulfillment.

One must also remember that both the teaching and police professions have lately been under fire as lacking the quality and effectiveness that make them beneficial working parts of nationhood.

Both professions have become the targets of scathing criticisms involving sloppy service and corruption. The sad thing about it is that the criticisms are increasingly getting harder to defend with each passing day, and the growing number of proof that comes with it.

So, before the government rushes headlong to respond to the valid call of Recto, maybe it should also make sure there is in place a system or mechanism that would ensure whoever gets hired in any mass recruitment must also meet standards that fit the need.