On World Teachers Day, you’ll read messages of teachers greeting fellow teachers, reminding each one (including themselves) that to teach is dedicating your life passionately to a wonderful cause. That when you teach, you have to prepare yourself for a life of little financial reward, but also a life of infinite joy and heartwarming moments. These are things that money cannot buy.

All true but I don’t understand why teachers can have both. Teachers are used to this and have no choice but to find extra income outside the academe, because society says so. Why do we reward our teachers with so little money? Just because your “work” makes you happy, that doesn’t mean that you should be compensated poorly.

I’m not saying teachers should demand millions for what they sacrifice and willingly give to society but shouldn’t society find teachers’ contributions worth more than what it seems to be worth now?

Not all teachers are good with what they do, you say, but not all of every other profession is either.

It’s just sad to see teachers leave the country for a better life, or divide their time to earn more from a different job after school hours.

If we took care of our teachers better then maybe we’d have a better society, a society that knows how to give back to those who deserve it and to take pride in what they do.