‘Joel Puto,’ 47, finishes high school

By: Linda B. Bolido - 10 years ago

NEVER TOO LATE New graduate Joel M. Pielago, 47, with his daughter Joy. ARNOLD ALMACEN

Joel M. Pielago would often be told, “Bulaan ka! (You are a liar),” each time he pays the discounted student’s fare in public utility vehicles.

The good-natured Pielago would never protest, and would simply show his student ID from Lucena City’s Quezon National High School (QNHS), the Philippines’ second largest secondary school.

He knew it was hard for people to believe that a 47-year-old like him was still in high school. He himself did not think he would ever go back to school after sending his three children through college.

Last March 27, Pielago joined the more than 1,900 members of the 2015 QNHS graduating class, with the added distinction of being named “model student” of Section Hope of the Open High School (OHS).

Model student

While Pielago modestly attributes the honor to his being the oldest in the OHS program, his adviser, Amalia V. Castillo, said he earned the distinction “for his exemplary moral character and positive values visible in his personal qualities such as leadership ability, responsibility in doing tasks in school and willingness to extend help to his teachers and classmates … .”

Pielago, who supported his family by selling puto, kutsinta and pichi-pichi, for which he earned the nickname “Joel Puto,” is grateful that QNHS was among the schools chosen to pilot-test the OHS program.

Launched by former Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus in 2006, the OHS is “an alternative mode of delivering secondary education” that allows “independent, self-pacing and flexible study” for learners who have not started or completed secondary education for various reasons.

Learner-directed

The OHS instruction is “flexible, multichanneled and essentially learner-directed.” It is designed for people who have difficulty attending regular classes because of work, disability and other reasons.

Pielago appreciates the OHS program as it has helped working people like him to earn a high school diploma at a more manageable pace and with less pressure. The OHS class meets only once a week. Students do most of the class work at home using modules.

“It was not hard to do the work,” he said in Filipino, the distinctive accent of the Quezon Tagalog flavoring his speech.

Veteran mentors

“The teachers were helpful and understood our difficulties. They knew we were working and they knew the best way to teach us,” he said.

He said the QNHS assigned its most experienced teachers—Zenaida Rallama, Rochelle Cueto and his adviser, Castillo, as well as coordinator Mildred Cueto—to handle the OHS program. Although the teachers also had to handle regular classes, they were never impatient with their “slower” occasional students, Pielago said.

Pielago cannot remember when he graduated from elementary school. He said he got married at 22 after finishing second year high school.

As he and his wife, Cely, who studied management in college and worked as a secretary to a Lucena physician, were raising three children—Sijoy, 24, Trissha, 22, and Kim, 20—his high school studies were often interrupted. He tried evening classes but the need to earn a living got in the way.

“Now that my children have finished college, it was time for me to go back to school,” Pielago said.

He was not at all embarrassed at being in high school at his age or the oldest in his class (the youngest, 14, was a kasambahay). “I just thought of them as my children,” he said.

Initial reluctance

Pielago said he was reluctant at first to return to finish his high school studies because of his age. Until he read and heard of people much older than he finishing high school and going on to earn college degrees.

The oldest OHS graduate of QNHS, who was 54 years old when he got his diploma, also encouraged him to return to school. The graduate is now working as a masseur in Dubai like his son who supported his studies.

Pielago said he realized education was a treasure he would always have. Age should not be an issue for those who are determined to pursue their studies, he said.

He said his family was supportive, even helping with his homework, “except for the eldest because she already does a lot of teaching in a private elementary school and tutoring after class.”