Northeast LA suffers teacher shortage

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Teachers are the primary and preeminent influence in shaping a student’s life.
The development of any state or region depends on the quality of teachers and how they nurture their students.
However, Louisiana has a increased teacher shortage, especially in the northeast region, the situation is precarious.
The United States is facing the first significant teacher crisis since the 1990s. Specifically, Northeast Louisiana needs teachers more than ever.
“Indeed, the U.S. is facing its worst teacher shortage in two decades,” communications’ teacher assistant Vladimir Jakovljevic said.
“Louisiana, specifically, has shortages at essentially all ages and subject areas,” Jakovljevic said.
The shortage of teachers in Northeast Louisiana is considered the result of a sick and fractured system of education.
Due to the lack of resources and low incomes, teachers are seeking jobs in other developed places with excellent opportunities.
Northeast Louisiana lacks teachers in the field of math, science, technology and some other specialized educational fields.
“Several years ago, Northeast Louisiana brought mathematics teachers from the Philippines, and most of them are still working in different educational sectors in NELA,” School of Education doctoral director Kim Kioh said.
He elaborated that the U.S. does not have enough funding for teachers and is not a high demanding job compared to some other Asian countries like South Korea, Japan and China.
“Teaching is a very demanding and strenuous field, and it requires continuous hard work and dedication. Despite being praised and motivated, teachers are being criticized for the broken education system and are always asked to go an extra mile,” BMA graduate student Rajan Bhattarai said.
A 2013 poll published in The Washington Post found that teacher satisfaction in the U.S. has declined 23 percent since 2008, from 62 percent to 39 percent.
The teaching career is taken as a more time-consuming job as teachers work both inside and outside of the classroom. They also have to review papers when they are at home resulting in stress and anxiety.
Research shows that in European countries like Finland, Norway and Great Britain, the teachers are well paid and relatively happier.
As a result, the number of teachers increase annually.
“Although the U.S. is a bigger country than rest of the world, teaching is not considered as a highly esteemed job here compared to some other developed countries, and this is the reason why teachers do not want to continue this profession for the rest of their life,” Kioh said.
The number of students interested in pursuing a teaching career is shrinking.
Jakovljevic notes that Louisiana might not be very attractive to teachers.
“The researchers rated each state’s attractiveness to teachers, and Louisiana scored 2.42, which is the second-lowest category,” Jakovljevic said.
The Louisiana Department of Education has launched a state-wide recruitment campaign called “Be a Teacher LA.”
The campaign will focus on recruiting high school graduates and college students to enroll in an undergraduate teaching program.