Amid the heavy traffic, I saw a truck with a statement, ““Perishable Goods, Do not delay.” which reminded me of the ambulances stuck in the gridlock in Manila asked for last September 8.

According to the report, the severe delays of ambulances in traffic race cost the lives of patients. With that, I can’t help but compare this to the remedy we usually receive to solve educational problems. In spite of the representatives we have to voice our concerns and issues in the field and despite the opportunity to practice freedom of speech, not much has changed.

We always lose the chance to employ the old adage “prevention is better than cure” for if we’re going to track the usual complaints in our department, it’s always a copy paste. Therefore, it’s very evident that we didn’t get the chance to prevent nor cure them. To be more specific, some of the common grievances have something to do with the materials given and designs of the curricula.

To explain, we lacked books and necessary equipment. Nevertheless, references may be available, yet if not obsolete they have faulty content and grammar. More so, curriculum guides have too many competencies which mostly require prerequisite skills which were not taught and mastered from the previous grade levels due to time constraints. We also have the term “unpacking” in DepEd; therefore, it’s very apparent that majority of the topics are requisite of the other skills. Consequently, this made the present grade level teachers to start from the basic before proceeding to the target lesson. Why did that happen? It is because the skills included needed longer period of time to be taught and mastered which is in contrast to the time indicated in the guide not to mention other school activities which oftentimes cause class interruptions.

We believe that teachers are the ones honing the youth to strive harder to reach their aspirations in life. Thus, even in tough times, we are deemed to exude optimism and faith. But then, let us all be realistic. The perishable goods which experienced delayed delivery have reached their expiration already. On the other hand, the patients were also declared “dead on arrival” due to heavy traffic and complacency of some motorists and drivers. Henceforth, we implore the department to make immediate and appropriate responses and actions toward our woes.

We know that teachers are not perishable goods. We’re also not emergency patients. But then, I think people’s idealism also face cessation that we can also be similar to expired goods. In fact, we could stay in the shelf even with that terrible state if no one would check and attend to our needs. Moreover, we may stay also in service without being truly alive. Cliché as they say, but existing and living are two different things.

With that in mind, I felt the need to call on the attention of my fellow servants. I hope and pray that we could sustain our fresh ideas and lively dispositions despite the jam around us. We may not arrive in time, but I hope we could still continue going back and forth to serve our purpose – be it in the presence of absence or the teeming deficiency.