After
two decades in a private school, I transferred to a public school. A big change
and step in my life I could describe. I have been used to smart children with
unlimited resources for learning particularly a strong wi-fi connection, has
all the money to spare for learning requirements and the like. Culture shock is
more like an apt description of my first day in public school. I was trying to
be strong for the children, I didn’t know how to describe the way their
uniforms were not ironed, some were wearing torn or almost torn shoes, while
the ethnic children were not even wearing slippers since they consider slippers
as a luxury. In a class of 45, only two has textbooks while others don’t even
have notebooks or even papers to write on. There was no chalk to be used and
even no eraser. I have to use a wet rag to erase the blackboard. I have eight
classes from morning until afternoon with a capacity of 45 students in each
class. I have six non-readers and I have six special children, four of which
are autistic while two are suffering from trauma due to vehicular accident. I
have seven ethnic people who walk barefoot. Generally the classes are arranged
in a homogenous way, I handle the gifted class and I also handle the slowest
class.
I have been praying for one year and a
half to know if transferring to this school is my calling. I was used to bright
students, they can pay their tuition fees and other miscellaneous ones. This
time, everything is different, I often encounter students who skip lunch
because of no money. Since the school is situated in a mountain barangay,
transportation is quite costly so every morning I see students walking from
their houses. Water is another luxury so there is hygiene problems among the
students especially those who walk in barefoot. Food is a luxury to consider
and books are another problem.
After a month upon reflecting and
evaluating, I found peace which I did not find in private schools. I know the
students need me and I love the feeling of being needed. My subject is social
studies in Grade 7 and 8 but I am teaching them about good health, good food
and love for books. I know that Writers’ Café has been more than a hobby to me,
it has been an avenue of friendship, of care and concern. I want the students
to have books to read since some are still non-readers. Books in my country are
considered to be additional expenses, the government does not include it in the
budget. We cannot afford digital e-books because we don’t have wi-fi connection
in school. I want to instill the love of reading towards the students, if you
have books you would like to donate, reading or reference books, they are
greatly appreciated. Thank You.
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