Learning in Agusan becomes fun time

TRENTO, Agusan del Sur—It was a day of festive surprise for pupils of Trento West Elementary School when they entered their classrooms as the school year opened.

On the walls is a kaleidoscope of colorful oversized flowers, insects and animals, while buntings of bright and neon-colored paper hang. The desks and chairs are painted with shades of pastels. Outside, real flowers are abloom and the grounds are green.

“I love my school now,” said Roselyn Tongcua, a Grade 2 pupil.

For years, a large area of the school compound in the town proper of Trento in Agusan del Sur had always been submerged in water. “Basakan” or rice field was how one teacher described it.

In the muddy playground, most first graders used to roll and hide, Tall and thick grasses grew at the back.

“What you see now is the exact opposite,” teacher Larry Marte said.

Concrete classrooms have replaced the dilapidated buildings. What used to be an empty space is now an air-conditioned speech laboratory, equipped with 30 computers. A botanical and vegetable garden exists in the grassy area.

Like private schools

Roseler Faith Julve, a fourth grader, said she had been wanting to see some changes in her school. “The school facilities look like those of private schools. The improvements have made the school very conducive for learning,” she said.

Trento West Elementary School is one of the 16 schools in the province that have been declared models of excellence (MOE). This specialized approach puts importance on creating for students an environment where learning can be fun and exciting—and effective.

The initiative took off in 2001 when a teacher embarked on a daring exploration to avert the deterioration of Pisaan Elementary School in San Francisco town in Agusan del Sur.

Amalia Madamba-Ronquillo, then the acting principal, said the physical facilities of the school had made it almost impossible for the students to learn.

“There were no decent chairs, the desks were broken, the roofs were leaking. The entire school was on the brink of collapse. That and all, what can you expect but children who were unable to read or write,” Ronquillo said.

Teachers’ apathy

What aggravated the situation was the apathy of the teachers, which took its toll on the children.

“The teachers’ disdain was really scary. They came in late and went home early. There was no sign of dedication from them to teach, and the children were not inspired to learn,” Ronquillo said.

“I was very desperate and in need for help. But there seemed to be nothing coming in at that time.”

While surfing the Internet, she ran across Books for the Barrios, a California-based foundation that gathers school materials—books generally—and distribute these to public schools in poor communities in the Philippines.

She sent the foundation a letter expressing the need for immediate assistance, and it drew positive response from its head. At first, Pisaan Elementary School received books and other school materials which were used in shifting the traditional teaching approach to something fun and interesting.

“I was told to do better. It was a challenge that pushed me to the wall,” Ronquillo said.

Tough requirements

The requirements set by the foundation were “tough,” she said. “What was demanded of us was to prove that we can do better. The students were expected to get out of the school armed not only with competence and knowledge but also with the confidence that was lacking in them for so many years.”

“When the books started to come in, small changes also began to happen—both in the physical facilities and the attitude and skills of the teachers. It was a painstaking experience of motivating and influencing them,” she said.

In the case of Trento West Elementary School, Marte acknowledged that the teachers were indifferent to the concept introduced by the model of excellence school.

“We were hesitant when we heard the concept. But we were also kind of excited. There were many complaints because there was a demand for them to devote their attention and time to the implementation of the program,” he said.

But when they kept themselves open to it, they were happy about the results.

Remarkable changes

“The school, which was tagged as the worse school here, went a phase that we never imagined before. After the changes were implemented, there was a 25-percent increase in enrollees,” Marte said.

In 2008, there were only 500 students. “Now, we are close to a thousand,” Marte said. And all students can read and write.

Only a year after the Pisaan teachers adopted the new approach, the students performed better, the school’s conditions improved, and their attitude changed.

The provincial government declared Pisaan Elementary School an MOE school the following year.

The project aims to make students “highly performing individuals.” It is under the local government’s “Pagtuon Alang sa Masanag nga Kaugmaon (Study for a Bright Future),” which complements the Department of Education’s Every Child a Reader Program (Ecarp).

Gov. Adolph Edward Plaza said the government must take an aggressive stand to extend better education services to the children. For the MOE program, Plaza allotted P250,000 for school improvements and training of teachers, while the mayors of each town gave another P250,000.

The funding covers cost of freight of the books and other materials supplied by the Books for the Barrios.

MOA with province

The foundation has signed a memorandum of agreement with the provincial government to support the schools for six years. The program is now being implemented in all 14 towns of the province.

“The experience of Pisaan opened the door of opportunity for us to improve our approach to education. Right now, we have identified education as one of the priorities. And we cannot do this on our own. We needed the active participation of other stakeholders, especially of the community,” Plaza said.

He hopes to see “every child in the province graduate from school.”