Teacher's Pay

I often wonder why teachers are among the lowest paid professionals in the world. Bankers, engineers, doctors especially lawyers among others have high potentials of striking it rich. Teachers on the other hand cannot even be assured of a comfortable life when they retire.

This causes tremendous problems for the education sector. Poorly paid teachers are likely to be demoralized which may compromise their teaching. How can they teach well when they problematize where they'll get the money to pay the latest bill?

People say this is a logistical problem. Schools are not for profit institutions. Therefore, they cannot give higher salaries beyond what they charge for tuition.

While such a response has merit it is best for schools to become more entrepreneurial. Schools should be more creative in generating income to maintain good teachers and to improve its facilities.

Singapore's Biopolis, a city like facility devoted to biological research, is a prime example. The Singapore government invested in a high tech facility to attract the best scientists in the world and gave them superb compensation. In exchange their output will then be shared with the Singapore government to be used for the best interest of the city state.

Teachers like Biopolis scientists should also be treated like invaluable resources of the country. Not only do teachers train future generations of citizens but they also produce new knowledge through their researches. Giving dignified wages for teachers is a first step in improving the quality of education in a country.

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Illustrations Cited:

http://bernardoh.wordpress.com/category/education/academic/

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup/?id=1984671&refnum=427242

http://www.waseda.jp/prj-wobri/images/photo-biopolis.jpg