Making a difference, 50 students at a time

For four years, while studying at the Ateneo de Manila University, Sabrina Ongkiko dreamed of becoming a doctor.

But an invitation to try her hand at teaching before she graduated eventually led to her becoming a member of the faculty of Culiat Elementary School in Quezon City.

Ongkeko was about to submit her medical school application when Maria Assunta Cuyegkeng, then vice president for Ateneo’s Loyola Schools, invited several students to teach. Cuyegkeng described the kind of teachers society needed.

The spiel had Ongkeko rethinking her plans. She wanted to be a doctor but teaching appealed to her.

Now she thinks she has found her calling. Ongkeko said a person’s choices really involved what he/she valued most.

“And I realized that what I really valued was education. I knew I was saying no to the possibility of a comfortable life,” she said.

But she felt she would be deluding herself if she did not pursue her real interest—teaching.

Ongkeko’s decision was not really earth-shaking for her friends. Had she decided to pursue medicine, they said, they expected her to become a barrio doctor.

But telling her parents required more tact. As the eldest in the family, she knew more was expected of her. Fortunately, there was good news to cushion the impact of her decision. She told her parents she qualified for a scholarship in Singapore but a condition was for her to teach in public schools.

Ongkeko laughingly recalled her father’s reaction to the news. “My dad started to joke about the return of investment for sending me to one of the top universities in the country,” she said.

Ongkeko was able to make choices like this because her parents were socially aware. She recalled that, as a child, she listened to her dad tell stories about children in the province crossing rivers to get to school, holding banana leaf-wrapped books above their heads and braving treacherous currents.

Her father said, “…’Yong libro ang iningatan, hindi yung sarili (they protected their books, not themselves).”

Her dad promised to himself that he would build a bridge for the kids someday, and he did keep that promise.

“I felt the need to show (my parents so they would understand). I told my mom stories about my students so sometimes, when she cooked me lunch, she would prepare for two (so I could) share it with a student who didn’t have lunch money.”

She brought her dad to school for a discussion in HeKaSi when the class was supposed to learn about the martial law era.

Ongkeko did not want to rely on textbooks. Her dad, a former activist, stood in the cramped room and shared his own memories with the children.

Later that day, her father told her he was proud of her and of what she was doing.

Ongkeko realizes how difficult the job is. “I’d be lying if I say I don’t get tired just because I see something inspiring every day. It’s really a question of commitment—not giving up no matter how difficult things become. It might sound idealistic for some but is it really so wrong to be idealistic?”

Her eyes lit up as she talked about her students. “My students and their dreams are my inspiration. As long as I see them making the effort and aspiring for something, I’ll help them. I’m not doing this for myself because, in all honesty, I’m already living my dream. My former teachers who showed me the right thing to do also inspire me. So are my fellow teachers, because they understand how it is to be one and they make you feel less alone in the struggle.”

Possibilities

Her time in Singapore opened her eyes to future possibilities. She saw that there was a chance for a similar system here. The gap between that world and hers was inspiration enough.

As she talked, a woman approached and introduced herself as a teacher of nearby St. Bridget’s. The woman thanked Ongkeko for what the latter was doing and saying about the teaching profession.

Ongkeko said, “What I love about teaching is that, in one day, you can touch 50 students’ lives and make a change in them. I love it when their eyes light up upon learning something new. Just being there every day, it’s powerful. Not in the sense that you’re above others but in the sense that you have the ability to make a difference. Teaching changed my paradigm. Akala ko, to see is to believe; instead I learned that I have to believe to see.”

She talked about a student, Mark Dublin, one of her favorites. He was not always great in school and he was bullied. But she said he was the most thoughtful and giving child in Culiat. Mark graduated despite having to go to school every day with only five pesos in his pocket.

“Sometimes before a child can show you he can do it,” she said, “you have to believe he can.”

As for students having second thoughts about going into teaching, Ongkeko said, “There’s nothing wrong about wanting to earn a high salary. But it is important to choose what will make you happy. Sometimes we know what we want but we allow ourselves to be influenced by others. If your heart is really in teaching, do it. It is a gift. You just need the courage to say yes…. Be brave enough to go after your dream, to go after that thing that will give value to your life.”

The 1,000 Teachers Program of the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) aims to support the dreams of future educators.

PBEd has launched a scholarship campaign to encourage the best and brightest graduating high-school students to take up education. Four years from now, PBEd hopes to graduate teachers who will follow in the noble footsteps of Ongkeko and others like her who are working to nurture the next generation’s dreams.

The Teachers Program hopes that, one day, no class in the Philippines will be without a teacher.