Two decades of the tried and tested Pagsasarili preschools, offspring of the OB Montessori preschools

In 1983, seventeen years after the OB Montessori schools were established, I formalized the Pagsasarili preschool project in the National Housing Authority’s ZIP zones, signing a memorandum of agreement with then NHA General Manager Gaudencio Tobias. The NHA ZIP zones are laborers’ districts which used to be slum areas.

During the Marcos administration, 32 out of 400 slum areas in Metro Manila underwent a multi-million peso rehabilitation. These were divided into small lots of 35 square meters. The plumbing, electricity and drainage systems were installed. We set up the OB Montessori Pagsasarili preschools in eight of them.

The OB Montessori Pagsasarili logo shows a little boy and girl running in a sun-filled community. The light symbolizes how the Pagsasarili schools removed the darkness in the newly improved slum areas since the Montessori Pagsasarili system quickly conditioned the poor children to love work and order. Within the first few weeks of schooling, their friendliness, self-confidence and independence so inspired the community that the school’s enrolment increased yearly. Their Pagsasarili teachers were first trained at the OB Montessori Greenhills headquarters and given yearly summer refresher course. They exhibited such steadfast care for their children and have been generally faithful for the past 20 years. Indeed, one can say that they are the "new children" and the "new teacher."

Twenty years ago

Twenty years ago as many as 12,000 families have been squatting illegally on private and public properties. Instead of arresting these squatters, they were tolerated by politicians who wanted their votes. DILG Secretary Joey Lina as a congressman even revised the squatter law decriminalizing it. Without the basic amenities of life, they installed their own water pipes as well as electrical connections illegally. Relatives from the provinces expanded the population so that one small two-story shanty would hold four families.

Our housekeeper, who used to reside in this area, complained of nephews and nieces who kept coming from Samar. With her limited income she had to feed them. They almost never could find employment since they were illiterate and had no skills. The sub-human environment encouraged drinking, gambling and drug addiction. Consequently, these spawned various crimes of incest, drug pushing, robbery and murder.

The OB Montessori Center had just started the high school department then at its Greenhills headquarters. Most of its Pagsasarili outreach programs were in nearby areas. The first preschool was set up in 1983 in San Martin de Porres, Cubao where 2,156 families reside. In 1985, another Pagsasarili preschool was set up right behind our headquarters at West Crame where 2,737 families of military and police personnel, vendors, as well as tricycle drivers live. Today, Unimart salesgirls, Muslim pearl vendors and stall owners of the Greenhills shopping complex reside here. At the same time, another Pagsasarili preschool started in Tramo, Pasay City where 1,900 families of vendors and overseas workers live.

In 1986, three more Pagsasarili preschools were set up: CAA, Las Piñas for 12,000 families; Bagong Barrio for 5,003 families of factory workers and laborers; and Bagong Silang, Caloocan City for 1,700 families. In 1989, to serve 2,848 government personnel, the Karangalan, Pasig City Pagsasarili preschool was started. The following year, the last Pagsasarili preschool was set up in Dasmariñas, Cavite adjacent to the Maharlika Muslim village. About 15,000 families were relocated from Metro Manila. Yearly commencement exercises were held at these different sites.

Lea Salonga’s father recites the ‘Alphabet Soup’ of education

Although better known as Lea’s father, Captain Feliciano "Fil" G. Salonga is vice chairman of Bataan Shipyard and Engineering Co. as well as president of the Mt. Pinatubo Hidden Temple Shrine and Community Foundation. (Lea Salonga is a product of OB Montessori Center, where she studied from preschool up to high school.) Fil Salonga stood in for his daughter, Broadway star Lea Salonga in the OB Montessori Grassroot Leadership Foundation as our speaker for the Advanced Casa Commencement Exercises of the OB Montessori Pagsasarili Preschool in CAA, Las Piñas City. Fil’s "Alphabet Soup" of Education is parallel to what Dr. Fulghum said, "What I learned in life, I learned in kindergarten. . ."

"While I was contemplating the appropriate message to share with all of you, it occurred to me that perhaps it would be best if I offered to serve you my version of the "alphabet soup" of education. My reasons for doing this are simply to augment what Dr. Soliven has already articulated on many occasions, which by now should be deeply imbedded in your minds and hearts, and to present an alternative way of defining education.

An alphabet soup is a dish consisting of many ingredients and is served with those ingredients cut in the form of the letters A to Z. In essence the soup is my own perception of what education should be or can be - from A to Z. Without further ado, I will now begin serving the alphabet soup.

A is for Availability, Affordability

A is for AVAILABILITY and AFFORDABILITY of education. It means that education must be available for all - rich and poor, tall and short, fat and thin, as well as those with disabilities. It must be affordable - just like the Pagsasarili Preschool of which today’s graduates and their families are among its beneficiaries.

B is for BENEFACTOR. The O.B. Montessori Center is the benefactor of the Pagsasarili Preschools. C is for CHANGE. Education is a force for change in which case, change is for the better. D is for DYNAMIC. Education must exercise influence in a strong and forceful way. E is for EQUALITY. Education must demonstrate that all citizens are equal members of society. F is for self-FORMATION.

G is for GAINFUL and GRATIFYING. Education means gaining more value as an individual and gratifying because it gives the educated person reasons to be grateful. H is for HELP ME TO HELP MYSELF that is "pagsasarili" in Tagalog.

The fruits of this system of education are: I is for INDEPENDENCE; J is for JOY in learning. K is for KINDNESS to others. Education implants kindness among human beings. L is for LOVE for work. Love for fellowmen is what drives educators to sacrifice their own leisure and time for their pupils; M is for Dr. MARIA MONTESSORI. She discovered the new world within Man; N is for NORMALIZATION, THE Montessori work for uniting physical and mental energy; O is for ORDER in work; P is for the PREPARED ENVIRONMENT of work. . .

The National Housing Authority helped ‘give birth’ to the Pagsasarili schools

What portion of the international Montessori preschool curriculum was drawn out to make the Montessori Pagsasarili program?

The complete Montessori preschool program developed by Dr. Maria Montessori a century ago is a scientific, psychologically-based curriculum that can only be used by trained teachers with special apparata to condition preschoolers to be independent at home and in school. This consists of 300 exercises in Practical Life, Sensorial Arts, Language, Math, Geography, History, Botany and Zoology. It costs about P192,000 to equip the regular OB Montessori preschool classroom. Of these, 100 exercises were drawn out for the Pagsasarili preschool: 25 Practical Life, 10 Sensorial Arts, 20 Language, 30 Math, and 15 Geography, History, Botany and Zoology. These apparata cost only P72,000.

How Pagsasarili preschoolers attain Grades I to III Language competencies

The Department of Education (DepEd) expects Grades 1 to 3 children to recite the alphabet, read and write words to simple sentences using the local dialect and Filipino. English is introduced in the Intermediate level of Grades IV to VI with the bilingual program wherein Filipino and English are two required subjects.

The Pagsasarili system believes that the Absorbent Mind of the three to six can easily learn languages simultaneously. Thus, with both parents and preschool teachers persisting in speaking English, which is the more difficult language, the four and five-year-old Pagsasarili students usually can speak both Tagalog and English.

The Pagsasarili writing skills are first developed before reading skills. The shapes and sounds of letters are learned easily by tracing Sandpaper Letters. With constant word composition using the Movable Alphabets, reading eventually develops. Enrichment of the vocabulary occurs readily by working on Classified Nomenclature Cards of objects in the surroundings like the house, the school, the farm, the zoo, market, grocery, airport, etc.

How Pagsasarili preschoolers attain Grades I to III Math competencies

For numeration, the DepEd expects Primary school children to count 1 to 100 in Grade I, up to 1000 in Grade II, up to 10,000 in Grade III, then counting jumps suddenly to million and billion in Grade IV requiring the reading and writing of numerals only then. Meantime, the Montessori Pagsasarili preschooler learns the compact system of numeration starting with 1 to 10. Three lessons reinforce this using Number Rods and Spindles, which introduce zero and Counters and Cards for the concept of odd and even numbers.

The Decimal golden beads and cards prepare them for grade school addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Laying out the golden unit beads, bead bars of 10, bead squares of 100 and the bead cube of 1000 with the corresponding cards 1,000 100 10 1 readily make them aware of the value system in forming complex numbers.

How Pagsasarili preschoolers attain Grades I to III Geography, History, Botany and Zoology competencies

As far as Geography and History are concerned, the traditional primary gradeschools have oversimplified the lessons by exhorting students to be proud because he is a Filipino without a thorough background on the natural wealth of the land and water in the various regions. Since Tagalog is used, geographic terms of bundok, burol, dagat, ilog are alienated from the internationally accepted terms of island, lake, peninsula, bay, strait, isthmus, etc. which can be taught with plaster models.

Dr. Maria Montessori referred to the sciences of Geography, History, Botany and Zoology as the "keys to the universe."

The three to five-year old Pagsasarili preschoolers learn the seven continents and oceans using the Puzzle Map of the World. Drawing and coloring is done after the child learns the names of Africa, Europe, Asia, North and South America and the Antartican continent. The more advanced Puzzle Map of Asia is used afterwards. The fives not only draw all the 20 countries of Asia, but also their corresponding flags. History involves the help of the parents in putting together the child’s picture album from birth to his current age. Lessons follow using calendars, clocks and teacher-made stamp pads.

Botany cards teach the different parts of a flower, leaf and tree. While Zoology teaches the body parts of a mammal, bird, reptile, fish and amphibian.

Z for wishing ZEST and ZEAL be endowed to all Filipinos

Fil Salonga continues his "Alphabet Soup" of education: "V is for VERSATILE. Education provides us with many abilities and skills, which makes us versatile. W is for .X is for X-RAY VISION. Education makes us see things not readily visible to the naked eye. It allows us to strip away the cover of knowledge that was once-upon-a-time considered secret. Y is FOR YOUTH. Education must start early, in our growing years just like the Pagsasarili Program. Z is for wishing ZEST and ZEAL. Dr. Soliven has a great zest for education. Her zeal is remarkable and never ending."

(* Reference: Elementary Learning Competencies, Elementary Math by DECS Curriculum Development Division, 1997)

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