Soulprints - Amyline Quien Ching

The face of the educated

Amidst the roaring storm that threatened to put her little make-shift classroom to its grave, she sat there, eyes transfixed at the rickety blackboard while her notebook dripped with droplets from the dilapidated pawid ceiling. With her mud-sludge shoes squeaking with each step, perhaps protesting from having to cross kilometers of flooded rice fields that morning, she stood in front of her classmates and recited with such eagerness and lilt to her voice that it managed to drown the howls of the winds.

It was the face of the educated.
And though she, in her eight years of life, may not yet know what education is nor be able to spell it out all by herself she defines what the learned man should be— dedicated, eager to learn and diligent in her strivings. She may not be able to say “educated” with that special twang that students of privileged schools are so used to nor could she read or write as fast as she may want to, but she could if she tried hard enough… if she were only given the chance.

A SERIES OF CHANCES

When Coca-Cola executives first chanced upon a multi-grade school in Masbate, the scene that greeted them was of utmost desolation that the experience wrought a mark in their hearts.
“It was really poor, poorer than what we have seen in Malasa and in Catigaacan,” relates Cecilia Alcantara, president of the Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines, Inc. (CCFPI). The classrooms, she added, were in pretty bad shape and the students, though already advanced in years, still have difficulty reading.
Moved by what they have witnessed, CCFPI wasted no time in giving a semblance of hope for students in the rural areas.
“If you want to make a difference in the long term, you must give your people quality education. Education empowers people to think for themselves and make sound decisions. It also gives them the capabilities for livelihood opportunities,” she says.
Elementary education is especially important because only a small percentage of the students continue on to high school. The number of dropouts, in fact, starts increasing by fourth grade.
“Rather than send them to school, parents prefer them to help at the farm and at home,” comments Jocelyn Granadozo, mother of a seven-year-old studying in Catigaacan Primary School in Brgy. Aglipay, San Jose, Tarlac, the 53rd Little Red Schoolhouse turned over to DepEd.
And who could blame them? Sending a kid to school is not something that you could achieve in a flick of a hand.
“Imbes na kainin namin o ibenta, nagbibigay kami ng tatlong kaing ng palay bilang pambayad sa mga sumusundo sa mga anak namin. Ang layo ng susunod na paaralan dito. Masaya nga kami at sa wakas nagkaroon na rin dito ng Grade 5 and 6. Ngayon, puede na naming pandagdag sa aming kakainin yung tatlong kaing na iyon,” she reveals.
And those who do not have 1,250 pesos worth of rice will have to travel several kilometers everyday just to learn a few letters of the alphabet and some mathematical operations.
“Ang haba talaga ng nilalakad nila lalo na yung mga batang nakatira sa mga lugar na hindi nadadaanan ng sasakyan. Yung iba bumababa pa galing sa mga bundok,” discloses Fe Lumboy, a mother of a grade five pupil studying in Malasa Elementary School, another recipient of the Little Red Schoolhouse Project.
It is even harder during the rainy season as some of the students have to cross rice fields, risking life and limb just to get to their classes on time.
“Mahalaga sa amin ang mapag-aral namin ang aming mga anak. Mahirap lang kami. Siyempre, gusto namin na magkaroon sila ng magandang kinabukasan. Iyan lang maibibigay naming sa kanila. Wala na,” she maintains.

THE PLIGHT OF THE TEACHERS

Perhaps no one could greatly affect the lives of these children than the one that serves as a role model and a second parent in those six years of tutelage. And if there is anyone who so richly deserves to be called hero, it is these teachers, who slaved the whole day, dedicating their whole lives in building a future not only for the children, not only for the community but for the whole country.
The multi-grade system brings a new definition to the word slave. Not only are they in charge of teaching the three basic subjects, they are also tasked to teach two or more grade levels and take care of the day to day school operations. In Malasa, only two teachers are in charge for all the six grade levels. They go from one class to another, sometimes holding them simultaneously just to teach these children to read and to write.
“Ang hirap. Magtuturo ako sa grade one tapos bibigyan ko sila ng seatwork. Lilipat naman ako sa kabila at doon naman ako magtuturo. Noon, iisa lang yung gamit naming blackboard kaya lalong mas magulo,” expresses Lisa, the teacher in Catigaacan.
Seeing this need for additional teachers, CCFPI has already requested the DepEd to assign teachers in the Little Red Schoolhouses that they have constructed.
“Achieving quality education does not only rest on the structure or the equipment. We also need to develop the teachers,” enthuses Alcantara.
In addition to the building, the desks and chairs and the school supplies, CCFPI also provides seminars for the teachers to train them in the multi-grade system.
“A lot of these teachers have no in-depth training in the system. They only learn as they go along,” she affirms.

TRANSFORMING PEOPLE, TRANSFORMING COMMUNITIES

More than the bricked walls that hold the school upright or the roof that offers shelter from the coming storms, the Little Red Schoolhouse, more than anything else, opens the door to possibilities that were previously under lock and key. It offers a quality education that most have thought was out of reach.
“Hindi mo talaga matatawaran yung saya ng mga magulang, lalo na ng mga bata. Excited na sila na gamitin yung bago nilang mga gamit,” relates Cecilia Tayug, one of the teachers in Malasa. The children, according to her, are more motivated to study. They have a joie de vivre that was not there before.
It is probably not the structure itself that is important, but what each brick, each desk stands for— a second chance.
“These people, all they need is someone to believe in them. You will marvel at what hope could do to people and to communities. If you believe in yourself, you are able to do more,” ends Alcantara.
And perhaps that iota of a chance is what differentiates that beggar on the streets from those behind their desks in Makati and Ortigas. Who is the educated then? Is it Rizal? Is it the man begging in front of the Quiapo Church? Is it you? Is it this writer? Education, in its truest sense, could not be defined in just a piece of paper. It springs from the heart, from the soul. We are all educated. All we need is a chance.

posted by Amyline Quien Ching @ 11:33 PM