DepEd probes teacher suicides

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) will investigate recent cases of teacher suicides following allegations that these have been caused by heavy workload.

Education Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla said they have created fact-finding committees at the regional level to determine the cause of the incidents. 

DepEd will also work to ensure that the mental health of teachers and other education stakeholders are recognized and well taken care of, according to Sevilla. 

“We need professional advice and (psychological and spiritual) guidance and we will engage with external partners to provide assistance to our teachers like a hotline for them to call when they are depressed or have anxiety,” she told The STAR. 

“We have to be responsive to needs related to this – the implementing rules and regulations of the mental health law ongoing, support system of teachers need to be strengthened, more de-stressing activities, find hobbies or interests,” she added. 

The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) yesterday met with DepEd officials to discuss concerns over the supposed workload. 

It cited the heavy burden of paperworks as among the reasons of  the teacher who hanged herself in Cavite last week. 

The organization also cited heavy workload as a possible factor in another teacher suicide in Leyte last month. 

“Two cases of suicide in just two months purportedly due to work-related issues should alarm the DepEd and take necessary steps. We have been raising the issue of overburden due to clerical tasks required of teachers,” TDC chair Benjo Basas said. 

“Recently, the DepEd made things worse when it introduced the new performance rating system that would again result in heavy workloads. We appeal to Secretary Leonor Briones to put a halt on all of the required non-teaching related tasks, class observations and paper works and listen to us in a dialogue,” he added. 

Basas said the DepEd should stop the implementation of the results-based performance management system and the order requiring the use of daily lesson logs and detailed lesson plan. 

For the DepEd, Sevilla said that while a single case of death is saddening, it is very inaccurate to highlight this as representative of the situation of the more than 800,000 public school teachers in the country. 

The management system has already been improved with fewer content and formats readily available, she said. 

The DepEd has also created 5,000 non-teaching, 4,000 specialized teaching and 3,000 guidance counsellor positions to unload existing teacher workloads.