THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers urged the Department of Education to help teachers deal with stress by implementing measures that would ease their workload.

The group made the call following reports on the alleged suicide of a teacher in Leyte province last Friday.

The DepEd local office conducted psychological intervention among teachers in Dulag Central School after a teacher, whose two children tested positive for Covid19, allegedly took her own life.

“This case demonstrates the magnitude of stress that our teachers endure at present. They too experience all the health and economic worries that the pandemic brought, while they bear all the problems that come with the ill-prepared and problematic distance learning program of DepEd,” Raymond Basilio, the group’s secretary general, said in a statement.

Basilio pointed out that the mental stressors were “problems that are of the government’s doing and, in turn, well within the government’s capacity to resolve, if only it would give due consideration to the objective situation of our teachers and learners.”

He said that the lack of health protection at work, heavy workload, and mounting teaching expenses bring anxiety to teachers.

“Our teachers’ physical and mental thresholds are stretched to the hilt, grappling with the new modes of teaching while printing and distributing modules under vulnerable conditions, working until the wee hours making reports and addressing students’ and parents’ concerns, all while stretching the family budget to accommodate teaching expenses, doing household chores, and guiding their own children in distance learning,” Basilio said.

He said that psycho-social interventions will not suffice if the causes of mental stress were not addressed.

Basilio pushed for a “more accountable, realistic, humane, and compassionate framework” in education continuity.

“If only the Duterte government would fulfill the duty of sufficiently funding the modules, devices and internet needs of teachers and poor learners, if only DepEd would take the responsibility of delivering these needs, ensuring the health protection of teachers, and devising a less strenuous work and study load program, our teachers and learners would be spared of a lot of mental burdens and could have a relevant learning experience during the pandemic,” he said.