In Negros, a school goes to the mountain

GUIHULNGAN CITY, Negros Oriental—Thirteen-year-old Joel Sigue was excited when he woke up at 5 a.m. on June 6.

After getting fresh grass for the carabaos, he took a quick bath and wore his white shirt and blue pants.

He could not wait to go to school. It was his first day as a high school student—something he thought he would never experience.

“I know it was not realistic for me to go to high school after elementary graduation. The high school campus was too far from our house so I had planned to stop going to school and instead help father in the farm,” Joel says.

So when it was announced in May that an annex campus of Guihulngan National High School would be opened in Barangay Magsaysay, Joel’s happiness was beyond words.

He worked hard in the farm and sold some of the vegetables he planted to buy eight notebooks and a ballpen. He used the worn-out backpack from last year.

Magsaysay is a mountain village located eight kilometers from the city center. A one-way motorcycle ride costs P25, which is too much for Joel’s parents. The family lives in Barangay Nagsaha, an hour’s ride away, and this made it more challenging for Joel to continue with school.

Building the school annex is a dream come true for the 77 young people who enrolled in June as first year students, according to its officer-in-charge Lyn Atoy. Ninety-five percent of them are children of farmers who cannot afford to send them to school in the city.

Food and transportation costs are so high that most of them decide to either stay in the mountain to farm or look for a city job.

Atoy says the school is a product of the concerted effort of the local government, parents and kindhearted people.

Mayor Ernesto Reyes supported the proposal from the city council’s committee on education to establish the school annex.

“On the first day of school, students were coming from everywhere and they were bringing their own chairs. It was sight to behold,” says Jessica Trinidad, the committee head who also lives in Magsaysay.

The students come from five upland barangays—Nagsaha, Buenavista, Villegas, Tinayunan Hill and Magsaysay. Guihulngan has 33 barangays and a population of close to 100,000.

The school annex site used to be a marketplace where farmers displayed vegetables and other products on Sundays. Later, it became a gambling area. Trinidad’s family donated the structure. The school has a roof but no walls, so that when it rains, the children get wet.

Atoy saw the need to organize the Parent, Teacher and Community Association (PTCA) to implement its first project—put up the school walls.

“I did not have a problem organizing them. The parents were very cooperative. They brought bamboo poles. The fathers did the carpentry work while the mothers cooked food,” she says.

The parents also agreed to contribute P10 monthly for each student to a revolving fund that will be used for classroom improvement.

“If this school was here when I was still young, I think I will be one of the best students. I am thankful that my daughter, Antonita can continue her studies because the school is now here,” Virgie Siñagan says.

The school has been receiving assistance from different organizations and individuals. The Inquirer donated books while the Sangguniang Kabataan Federation gave five computers. Negros Oriental Rep. Josy Limkaichong extended financial help.

Atoy said a library and another classroom where the computers would be stationed must be built.

Dreams

“There were times that I wanted to give up teaching here. It’s far and it’s a challenge every day to wake up early to be here. But when I see the faces of my students, hungry and thirsty for learning, I think about how blessed I am to be given the opportunity to teach them,” Atoy says.

The 77 students joined more than 200 youths and parents who attended the Inquirer Read-along on Oct. 3 in Magsaysay. A separate session was held at Guihulngan South Central School for 100 Grade 4 and Grade 5 pupils.

Atoy says it was the first time for the students to welcome visitors. They prepared food and games, decorated the stage and invited their barangay officials.

The day was declared Family Day.

Joel says the school is a step toward fulfilling his ambition to become a policeman.

“My elementary teacher told me a policeman has a big salary. I want to earn so I can help my parents and my three younger siblings,” says Joel, one of the top students in class.

His best friend, Julius Betchedo, wants to be an engineer so he could build his own house. Judelia Pasquil, 12, wants to be a teacher while 13-year-old Meriam Batiloy’s dream is to become a nurse.

Atoy encourages her students to dream big. “I tell them that I am doing my best to teach them … that being taught in a mountain school is not different from the city high school. In fact, their test scores are in the same level as the students in the city. I am proud of them.”