While society gives its attention on how to reduce burdens for
primary and middle school students, Wuhan City in central China's
Hubei Province recently issued policies to aid
teachers of primary and middle schools in the city, including
long-term training on psychological health and encouraging the
setting up of psychological consultation rooms for teachers,
according to a report by People's Daily on November 14.
A letter sparked these new policies. In May this year, one of
Hubei's senior leaders received a letter from Zhang Dan, a teacher
for 34 years. In the letter, Zhang said: "The general income of
primary and middle school teachers is comparatively low but coupled
with great work pressure. Their physical and psychological health
is worrying. During the physical check of the school last year, 80
percent of its female teachers suffered from various illnesses
including headache, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
Many younger teachers also suffer from insomnia and
depression…"
In April, two middle-aged teachers in Zhang Dan's primary school
died from illness, which intrigued Zhang Dan to write this letter
which listed four big pressures facing primary and middle school
teachers.
The first is heavy teaching tasks and great work pressure. In
Zhang's school, there are 16 classes with 707 students. Every
teacher on average needs to attend 18 classes each week. In
addition, they are required to carry out a lot of teaching
researches and attend teaching reform training.
The second is worrying health conditions. Great work pressure
has negatively influenced the physical and psychological health of
teachers.
The third is poor medical treatment and low income. "I am 52
this year, a senior teacher, but my monthly salary is only 1,544
yuan (US$196), which is already the highest in our district. Due to
the comparatively low income and poor medical guarantee, most
teachers are reluctant to see doctors when they are ill," said
Zhang in the letter.
The fourth is social and parental censure. The phenomenon of
blindly pursuing proportions of students entering schools of a
higher grade is still rampant. Parents have great expectations on
their children, which result in more censure on education system
and teachers.
In September, Wuhan's educational departments visited Zhang's
primary school and started an investigation on current conditions
of teachers in primary and middle school of the city to find out
countermeasures.
Actually, Wuhan had conducted an investigation among 1,300
primary and middle school teachers in its seven urban districts on
their psychological health and work conditions last year. The
result showed 40 percent of teachers suffered psychological
problems, a figure obviously higher than other social groups. About
51 percent of teachers suffer from headaches. The investigation
also showed that degrees of anxiety and sensitivity in
inter-personal relations and paranoia are higher among teachers
than other people. Most teachers feel emotional imbalance attached
to a heavy teaching burden.
According to Huazhong Normal University's Education Science
Institute, currently most parents expect their children to enter
into a good school. Some educational departments also take the
students' scores as a hard index when performing evaluations. On
the other side, the public is appealing for overall quality
education instead of examination-oriented education, leaving
teachers in a pressured position.
Such problems are not typical only in Wuhan. According to an
investigation conducted by Zhengzhou Education Bureau in Henan
Province on 426 teachers, 54 percent of them had psychological
problems. Nearly 70 percent felt exhausted psychologically and
physically. 48 percent of teachers suffered from anxiety and
insomnia; and 36 percent of teachers feel hard to control their
emotions sometimes.
Compared with "problem students", the phenomenon of "problem
teachers" is even more worrying. Facing the crippling "one
examination decides the future life" trend, many teachers are
reduced to "teaching machines". The examination-oriented education
actually harm students and teachers alike.
According to a professor from Wuhan University's Social Science
Department, the psychological health of teachers will eventually
affect the psychological health of students. Therefore, the
government and society need to "reduce burden" for teachers and
teachers also need to enhance their physical exercise as well as
making psychological, work and lifestyle adjustments.
(China.org.cn by Wang Qian, November 19, 2006)