State of (my) public education
There are only two months in the calendar that we talk about education: April when students graduate and June, when youngsters go back to school. After those periods, all is forgotten.
I am proud to be a product of public education. Well, almost. I studied nursery, kinder and preparatory school in a private school in our town, Peter Pan Learning Center. I took my primary education at Baras Elementary School, where most of the people in our town graduated. We belong to Batch 1997 and I am grateful that once in a while, we see each other and tell each other’s stories. What I really like most about them is that though we have been separated for more than 10 years now, we still know each other and always end up laughing whenever we reminisce our elementary days.
One of the memories I can still remember was when I was in Grade I. Being able to read a handwritten note, which is a sentence that we are supposed to recite in the Nutrition Month program, was a very big achievement for me.
When I was in Grade III, there was a certain period when we only have classes on half days. I was often asked by Mrs. Dungca, who, I believe is now a principal, to go back to school in the afternoon and draw some artworks, copied from the textbook. I was artistic then.
Being in a public elementary school means that you have to perform some tasks that are usually delegated to janitors and school caretakers. When I was Grade IV, I was the collector of the daily earnings for the recess. Everyday, I go sections two to six and get their remittances. The earnings range from P 16 to P 20. That’s the net income. I am often asked by the teacher adviser to sign a notebook, showing that I already collected their dues. I will then give the money to my adviser, Mrs. Ocampo, who will in turn remit it to the canteen manager.
In Grade Four, our group was assigned to clean the classroom. Others are assigned to clean the porch, water the plants, maintain the medicinal garden and make sure that the school grounds are tidy. Some were assigned in the school canteen which is just nearby. It is mandatory for us to wear “boots,” which were just a shoe cover, since the floor is floorwaxed. When it was time for our Home Economics, we have to go to the HE Room, under Mrs. Robles. Sometimes, she would give lectures but most of the time, we spend the whole shift cleaning the assigned places of the “house.” We we’re assigned to the kitchen, which is one of the most difficult to clean because of so many cabinets, which is the breeding place of mosquitoes. The most lucky ones, I think, are those assigned in the bed room since there are not too many things to clean there.
Came Grade VI. My seat is near the door and I am usually tasked to send the principal’s message all over the school. I am often asked to go around the school, holding the principal’s memo or note, and ask each and every teacher to read it and sign it. This means that I usually miss a lot of my subjects, but I was able to cope nevertheless. We were still assigned to clean the classroom-others in the principal’s office since it was just beside our classroom. My assignment, of course, is to maintain the cleanliness of the floor in the door area.
I would say that I was a “bibo” kid then. When I was in Grade VI, I won the school quiz bee in History. This means that I will be the school’s representative in the District Quiz Bee. My trainer, then, was Mrs. Clarita Castañeda (+). She was strict, and complete with all the reviewers. I eventually won the contest in the District Level.
I could never forget the date: October 4, 1996, feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. I won the Division Level Quiz Bee. I became the province’s representative in the Regional Quiz Bee in Batangas.
Hmm, I feel like a better writer than Bob Ong.
