Olive, Coron and the quest for quality education

Olive's (Ranido) account of the public school situation in a rural community in Coron, Palawan is, to me, a bit depressing. Olive, who has been admirably serving as Gurong Pahinungod since June this year, is currently in search of donors who can contribute books and other educational materials for the grade school where she teaches English, math and science. In her narrative, she talks of what seems to me an unflatteringly difficult case of living and struggling and teaching in the rural community (and I say that from the perspective of someone who has lived in relatively urbanized environments in the Philippines - admittedly a highly prejudiced/ culturally racist point of view).

 

She recounts (and let me quote you, Olive): "I'm getting the hang of living a very simple and peaceful life. As in walang kuryente and signal dun sa island at subsistence living talaga. I've learned to live by faith kase sagot ng community ang food namin so araw-araw we wait kung sino ang magbibigay ng ulam namin. Yung bigas nagcontribution din sila. Panahon na ng ulan so planting season; nagstart na rin kame magtanim ng gulay ng mga students ko and I plan to use it as a science laboratory as well."

 

And here is more heartbreaking: "Matagal na walang school dito. Last year lang nagkaroon ulit.  Kung di kami naipadala dito this year magsasara na sana yung school
kasi di na nag-renew yung mga para-teachers na pinadala ng provincial gov't.
We have 170 students sa Grades 1-5; yung iba mga balik-aral (I have 17-year old kids in my Grade 5 class) kasi yung nearest school is on another island at mahirap tumawid ng
dagat kapag tag-ulan na." (Quite admirably, the optimistic and affirmative Olive believes that there is hope for people in the island, not just because there are outsiders who selflessly extend themselves to share what they have and know, but also because the community members themselves remain unrelenting in their struggle.)

 

What got me struck so easily upon reading her email is the stark contrast between the situation of grade school pupils in that remote area in Coron and my situation as a graduate student at NUS. That is actually merely stating the obvious (and I do not wish to whine about the situation back home in this "soliloquy". ).  What I find quite appalling about this contrast is due to my recent experience at the NUS Central Library. Few days ago, I requested the library for an acquisition of a 6-page journal article published in the June  2007 issue of "Communication and Cultural/Critical Studies" which was neither available in print nor online.  I got the document for free yesterday but I was informed through mail that the university spent $25.96 for the article (around PhP750 - which is roughly equivalent to my weekly budget when I was teaching in UPLB).  Here I was enjoying access to some of the world's intellectual resources while those grade schoolers back home, some of whom will probably not have the chance to read a journal article, are struggling to make do with what kind hearts out there would give them.

 

It occurred to me that Olive's narrative of life and living in a public school in a rural community in Palawan throbs with messages of the need for the so-called "global Filipinos" to return home after earning higher degrees and experience overseas (Here I must clarify that the concept of "return" does not always have to be physical though it is most heroic. To my mind, "returning" is an act of "giving back" not just through dollar remittances but more importantly through expertise or experience sharing. The act of re-turn is an act of "revolving" and "rotating" again making the home country's issues and problems a central concern).  For people overseas who are painfully aware of the situation of the country's public school system, there is, I believe, the compulsion to go back and/or contribute to its nourishment even in the most humble way. For the UP graduate most especially, there is more to success in life than wealth for fine dining or expanding geography. I honestly believe that Olive is breathing a life of success right now.

 

I shall return home and I say that sans hypocrisy.  Maybe not right after earning my degree (as I still feel very inadequate after brief encounters with quite a few intellectual giants during my very limited experience overseas. At this point, I am beginning to feel that I have been shortchanged by some of my professors and colleagues during my brief stint in the university back home. It is quite disheartening to note that there are a lot of charlatans in our local academia, most of them carrying delusions that they are God's gift to the university only to come up with vanity publications and... more vanity publications. I'm afraid that had I stayed longer in Los Banos, I would have unwittingly transferred/ reproduced/ perpetuated the ideology of mediocrity - or I may have been doing that all along - to my students as I have been a product of it myself!).

 

I am sure in my heart that I will return - hopefully as a better teacher and a better human being.

Gene

P.S.
Below is Olive's address in Coron Palawan and that of Mr. Romel Daya, the program coordinator of Gurong Pahinungod in UPLB.  The school in Coron where Olive teaches needs educational materials from Grades 1 to 5, namely:

Philippine maps
Globe (world maps)
volleyball
basketball
badminton set
dictionaries
thesaurus
old encyclopedias
storybooks (e.g Adarna, Lampara and Hiyas storybooks)
reference books 

Ms. Olive Ranido
Gurong Pahinungod
c/o Saragpunta Foundation
Barangay 1 Sinamay,
5316 Coron, Palawan

Mr. Romel Daya
UPLB Gurong Pahinungod Coordinator
Bahay ng Pahinungod
UPLB, College, Laguna 4031
(+6349) 536-0505
cellphone +63906-2999312