These teachers in Aklan commute for 9 hours, cross raging rivers just to perform their duties

It’s easy to hate teachers but behind every single inconvenience they give our young lives – ugh, homework! Ugh, tests! Ugh, so strict! — are little acts of sacrifices we are often unaware of.

Take the teachers of Dalagsaan Integrated School of Aklan. Before they could start their work week, they will already have gone through a harrowing ordeal just to get to school where they teach.

Their commute puts to shame our daily EDSA experience: They need to be at the bus terminal at 5 in the morning. Then, they endure a two-hour bus ride before continuing their commute by foot to cross the Aklan River. It sounds easy but according to the teachers, they need to do this at least 14 times.

"Risky tumawid sa Aklan River lalo 'pag wala kang guide. Minsan marami kaming pasa at nasisira pa ang mga kuko. Kaya naging 14 stations of the cross siya," said teacher Raquel Florentino.

Some days the water is just ankle deep but it can go as high as the waist, if not chest deep. And so without a life jacket, and valuables wrapped and protected in a plastic bag, they go arm-in-arm to help each other cross the river.

When it’s raining, it becomes the most dangerous part of their commute: They have to let themselves be swept away by the current just to be able to get to the other side.

Theo Sagales is a teacher who once took a makeshift raft to cross the river but the current was too strong that it overturned and he ended up underneath it. By the end of the ordeal, Theo had lost one shoe.

Meanwhile, Raquel and Tiffany Nobleza say they get several bruises in their bodies because of this.

According to the teachers, they receive hazard pay for this sacrifice but most of the money go to transportation costs.

They would finish crossing the river some 8 hours after they’ve started – at 5pm – but this doesn’t mean their commute ends, as well.

They have another hour’s worth of walk before they reach Barangay Dalagsaan, some 50 kilometers away from the Aklan capital of Kalibo if you take a car.

In Dalagsaan, they have no electricity and no cellphone signal. They rely solely on solar panels and generators.

And with their bodies still sore and aching, they will begin teaching to about 400 students scattered in seven classrooms that the school has.

With September being National Teacher's Month, we implore you to please  hug a teacher and say a big thank you to them tomorrow. — LA, GMA News