Preventing the ‘kanto boy’ phenomenon with K to 12 curriculum

(Part II of Reaching Manhood in the Last Years of K to 12)

When I was still a child in the district of Singalong I would run errands to the store for Mama. The kanto (street corner) boys used to hang around Mang Kiko’s store at the corner of Singalong and San Andres streets. When I reached high school, I realized that these happy-go-lucky characters were actually unemployed – many of them residing in the “interior” or slum areas which haphazardly grew behind old residences that still remained after the last war. It bothered me to see men in their 20s, 30s or 40s hanging around stores in the vicinity throughout the day, not contributing to the economy of the country.

Analyzing the kanto boy phenomenon

Today the kanto boy phenomenon has worsened. Not only are there more, as relatives of slum dwellers continue the exodus from-far flung provinces to seek their fortunes in Metro Manila. Many become addicted to prohibited drugs. Our fear is that we adults and our children may be their next victims. To prevent this, young Filipinos should be constructively occupied and be compensated well.

To alert the public on the urgency of remedial education, the UNESCO survey of developing nations states the alarming rate of 40% of Grade 1 children dropping out in the middle of the year. Official statistics state that there are 11 million illiterates in the Philippines ages 10 years old and older, and each year the number of illiterate adults increases. Unless we succeed in vanquishing illiteracy, we cannot get rid of the 70% rate of poverty in the Philippines.

There is an abundance of chances to get employed in the Philippines. With such a huge market of 100 million Filipino consumers, we must meet the pressing needs of our countrymen. The trouble is that millions of unemployed Filipinos do not have the skills necessary to get hired. Just consider the various skills involved in building construction. The work team required by the architect and contractor is made up of carpenters, electricians, masons, plumbers and painters. When the house is built, its maintenance would still require skilled workers, although to a lesser extent. Food technology as well requires abundant horticulture production and food preparation to process fruits, vegetables, chicken, fish, etc. to supply the market.

Philosophy and practice of the Montessori Erdkinder Farm (Children Of The Land)

Since my training in Italy in 1964 and 1968, I have been trying to work out Dr. Maria Montessori’s vision of the farm high school, the erdkinder (children of the land), to assist them in their transitional period from childhood to adulthood. The aim of this farm high school is to protect and satisfy the intense physical maturation of adolescence and enable a teenager to become economically independent.

What is envisioned is a hostel-farm school in the countryside where teenagers who are vulnerable to ailments can have fresh air and live in hostels, which will also serve as dormitory for both students and teachers. What has served as a model for the O.B. Montessori Professional High School is the “self-sufficiency farm” of the Royal Project Foundation of H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, with its fishpond and poultry surrounded by vegetable patches and fruit orchard and mahogany trees, not only does it sustain the basic needs of the residents but enable them to sell surplus harvest in the local market. The Thai king’s idea came about during the Asian economic retrenchment that set back Thailand.

OBMCI signs MOA with University of Kasetsart, Bangkok

Since 1998, Operation Brotherhood Montessori Center has been pioneering in operating an integrated farming system in the city. The pilot farm is a 6,000 sq.m. lot located at Luxembourg St., BF Homes, Las Piñas. This farm is the first phase of a bigger project for a self-sufficient farm, which is on a five-hectare lot being developed in Alfonso, Cavite, bordering Tagaytay City, which our Kasetsart University partner Professor M.L. Charuphant Thongtham personally helped me find. The pilot farm has been visited by teachers and students from nearby schools, DepEd officials from Las Piñas and Parañaque divisions, and local government officials. This school farm project could very well be copied by public schools with their large land area to develop their own self-sufficient rural school farm.

In 1996, a memorandum of agreement was signed between Kasetsart University president Thira Sutabutra and I as OB Montessori’s president and chief executive officer. Associate Professor M.L. Charuphant ‘Noi’ Thongtham has helped our school use Thai farming technology through an exchange of instructors, instructional materials and publications and purchase of advanced farming equipment and tools. He helped choose and purchase both our lowland and upland farm lands and acquire complete data on its soil analysis, monthly rainfall, wind and land topography.

How 4 Thai upland farm campuses influenced the OBMC Urban School Farm In Las Piñas

Professor Charuphant, accompanied by his marketing manager Yawadee Sintuprama, accompanied me to various farm sites under the auspices of the king’s Royal Project Foundation, like in Kasetsart city campus with its dried ornamental plants factory that regularly exports 30 million baht worth of flower arrangements. Its 320-hectare suburban Khampangasen Campus, filled with fruit trees and vegetables, is another money maker. The queen’s garden in Angkhang had frowering plants, conifers, and bonsai, while Doi Pui and Doi Inthanon farms grew exotic fruits, colorful flowers and salad greens for the five-star hotels in Bangkok. The hybrid fern laboratory is located there.

Advised by Professor Noi, I sent two agriculture teachers together with my vice president for finance to Thailand. They worked with the professor’s trusted assistants who spoke English at the Tropical and Highland Horticulture Corp. production center at the Royal Project Foundation. Upon their return, the commercial type seed germination shed, nursery and compost making sheds designed by the professor were almost completed at out OBMC Las Piñas school branch. It cost P250,000 without its automatic sprinklers.

Major components of the school farm

The Seed Germination Shed (162.5 sq.m.), is where the newly sown seeds and transplanted seedlings are grown. Six cubicles can accommodate 500 seedling trays of vegetables, flowering and herbal plants. Six lateral overhead mini-sprinklers patterned after Thailand’s design are used to water the young plants early in the morning and late in the afternoon.

The Nursery Shed (90 sq.m.), is where the transplanted seedling from the Seed Germination Shed are further grown. This shed can accommodate from 1,500 to 2,000 young plants up to a meter high. Three lateral overhead mini sprinklers are installed to water the plants and a thermometer is used to monitor the daily temperature. This is an additional budget of P50,000.

During the strong typhoon last November, the roofing of the Nursery was ripped off by strong winds. It is undergoing repair using imported plastic, which is thicker and stronger than the local brands.

The compost production unit and coconut chopper

Two major requirements of an effective farm are compost making and a water reservoir. The Compost Production Unit (90 sq.m.), is where the different compost media are placed. It consists of ten cubicles, each cubicle holds a different compost medium: river sand, garden soil, burnt rice hull, sawdust, cocopeat, coconut husk, animal manure, dried leaves, rice hull and lime. Each class is required to make one compost and measuring one meter by five meters every school quarter. To enhance faster decomposition, compost digester – a microorganism from Thailand, is added to the compost. It would take about a month to decompose, instead of two or three months, ready to be mixed with garden soil. Students sell the compost produced, weighing three kilos at P20 per bag.

The Coconut Electric Chopper purchased from Thailand is used for cutting dried leaves and coconut husks into small pieces for planting and compost making. The Sun-drying Area, 12m by 8m in size, is shaped like a trapezoid. Animal manure, leaves, branches and fresh coconut husks are dried here. Eight water tanks and one pressure tank (500 gallons each) are also found in this area. The purpose of the Mixing Area is for preparing seeds for sowing and transplanting of media, potting and repotting of weak and unhealthy plants.

The wonderful harvest excites the students

Professor Charuphant saw to it that a detailed quarterly plan of specific vegetables would be followed. The three months of the first quarter (June to August) was spent for the procurement of different garden media, land preparation and seed sowing. Four beds of compost were prepared on a monthly basis. By August, the seedlings of pokchoy, Bangkok kangkong, 30 sesbania trees (katuray), sweet basil, Chinese kale, and sweet corn were ready for transplanting by Grade IV and V students.

In the second quarter (September to November) under the care of high school students, 260 kilos of vegetables were harvested; 21 rows of sweet corn (75 kilos); 43 plots of Thai pakchoy (15 kilos); Sesbania trees (15 kilos); 4 plots of kangkong (30 kilos). This total harvest amounted to P5,400. Unfortunately, we failed to harvest 8 plots of tomatoes and 3 trellises of bitter gourd (ampalaya) due to typhoon Semiang.

By the third quarter (December to January), 30 plots of Chinese cabbage, 13 plots of pakchoy and three plots of onions produced 60 kilos, 20 kilos and 25 kilos, respectively. Squash, watermelon, kale, sweet corn and bitter gourd have been planted and by this time are on its flowering and fruiting stages. We were able to earn P6,200 approximately. In the fourth quarter (February to April), we carefully gauged unforeseen weather problems, so Professor Charuphant revised our scheduled calendar.

I agree with Professor Charuphant when he says that “Unless one loves plants, the plants will never thrive.”

(Part III – “We Were Ready for Grades 11 and 12 During the Commonwealth Era”)

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