-HE TING RU- While this news is welcome, we can better suppor | The Workers’ Party
-HE TING RU-
While this news is welcome, we can better support our teachers in the crucial work they do, nurturing our next generation.
The increase in pay will help, but as shared by teachers in this article, it does not yet address the deeply rooted issues of burnout and overloaded responsibilities. Some even wonder about whether they will be able to keep pace with inflation and the scheduled increase in GST.
Many of us parents experienced firsthand how challenging it can be for educators during the various lockdowns and restrictions in the last couple of years. I for one am deeply grateful to the caring and committed teachers who place such heavy emphasis, and go over and beyond to ensure my children’s happiness, development, and well-being.
We owe it to our teachers to protect their mental health, while they in turn pour in much invisible labour to look after and impart precious knowledge and skills to our children.
It is why we must continue to focus on issues such as those raised in my parliamentary question asked in Sep 2021 (below). We must also look at issues like administrative workload together with pay in a holistic fashion, as I brought up in this Straits Times article last month (also below).
-
PQ: Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Education (a) whether schools follow and apply the tripartite advisory on mental well-being in the workplace for their staff; (b) whether teachers and other staff in schools have access to free or subsidised mental health consultations and treatment; (c) whether the Ministry reviews the mental well-being of staff in schools as part of the risk assessment of workplace health; and (d) whether the Ministry can commit to regularly publish more details of such risk assessments, if any.
ST article: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/parenting-education/salaries-of-teachers-counsellors-and-other-moe-officers-being-reviewed-chan-chun-sing
