A small school shines through

MANILA, Philippines   At a cliff-side community along the Tagaytay-Nasugbu Road, a small public school is quietly making waves.

The school with its four classrooms and quadrangle is home to 91 pre-school and elementary students from Bagong Tubig and neighboring barangays. “Neighboring” might be somewhat of a stretch, though, as Bagong Tubig Elementary School principal Carolina Buenaventura says that it’s more than an hour’s trek on foot, rain or shine, for some of the students from their houses to the school. Some of the children also have to cross a stream or two to attend classes. This is why most pupils prefer to wear slippers. Or if they need their leather shoes for a ceremony during the day, “binabalot po namin at dito na lang namin sinu-suot (we wrap them and we just put them on in school),” relates one grade four school boy.

The schoolrooms are also worth mentioning because, except for the one used by the pre-schoolers, each has a curtain hanging by a string to divide the space in half. This is so two grade levels can hold simultaneous lessons together.

Unimaginable as the conditions may be, particularly to city-bred people, this is simply “school as usual” for the Bagong Tubig community. Still, when one thinks about it, this may just be the very thing that the school has going for it.

Consider that the school was ranked 9th over-all in the Department of Education’s National Achievement Test (NAT) for Grade 6 students in SY 2008-2009. It was also the top-scorer among all Cluster 6 category schools.

One of the reasons Buenaventura cited for the school’s stellar performance was the lack of distractions from their studies, as compared with their urban counterparts.

There is also much to be said about the teaching staff’s dedication. “During the NAT reviews,” Buenaventura relates, “a teacher would go to the houses of some of the nearby students to wake them up. This would be as early as 4:30 a.m.”

The review session was in the city proper, and the children with their teachers had to walk more than an hour up the path  which, though cemented, was quite steep  that led to the main Tagaytay-Nasugbu Highway. This means that they had to be up and on their way before dawn.

It is also of note that three of the school’s five teachers are alumni: Janet Punzalan, Cecilia Landicho, and Mara Grace de Villa. All have chosen to return and teach at the school because of their belief that this is where they are needed the most.

So when Bagong Tubig Elementary School earned the top nine spot nationwide in the NAT, the entire community felt rewarded. After all, this coup proved that hard work, discipline and dedication still have a place in these gigahertz-speed times.

Leading Filipino life insurer Insular Life thus chose Bagong Tubig to be among the schools it visited for its 100 Years of Insular, 100 Beloved Filipino Children’s Stories Storytelling Caravan, based on its ranking in the NAT. 

The storytelling caravan, which is part of Insular’s centennial anniversary celebrations, re-told 100 children’s stories written by Filipino authors to students of ten select schools in Bataan, Batangas, Cavite, and Iloilo. All but one are public schools, and are among the top 10 performers in the NAT.

Adarna House storytellers related 10 stories in each school, as well as Insular’s children’s books, The Luckiest Girl in the World, and Christmas in February. Bagong Tubig students were treated to stories such as The Cat Painter, Asul na Araw, Ang Binibining Tumalo sa Mahal na Hari, Si Pagong at si Matsing, Ang Madyik Silya ni Titoy, Mariang Alimango, Ang Plautin ni Periking, Ang Alamat ng Lamok, Nang Magkakulay ang Nayon, and Apolakus.

The 100 stories storytelling caravan is the first of its kind in the country. By appealing to their imagination and sense of wonder, Insular hopes that these stories would encourage the children to take the next step to read more and love books.

During the storytelling at Bagong Tubig, the Insular and Adarna team had a first-hand feel of the positive energy of the community. The children eagerly listened to the stories, and joined in the games. Meanwhile, their parents and teachers pooled their efforts to prepare a memorable salu-salo for the storytelling team.       

Deeply moved by the courage and optimism of the students, their teachers and community, the Insular and Adarna House group returned to Bagong Tubig Elementary School in December to host a Christmas book party. 

Storytellers Jay Menes and Noy Bonanciar entertained the kids with games, prizes, and more storytelling capped with a tandem performance of Adarna House’s Tiktaktok at Pikpakbum.

Afterwards, the children felt the full blast of Christmas cheer as each of them took home books, gifts and loot bags from Insular and Adarna. The school, for its part, received brand new storybooks for its library, as well as reference books and pocket charts.

Shares Buenaventura, “This would really help the children in their studies, and for them to do even better.”

While the school still has a long way to go in terms of infrastructure  more school rooms need to be built, for instance  one could see a certainty in the teachers and students that this snag won’t get in the way of doing their best.

Ultimately, it is this courage, dedication and optimism, the everyday stuff that students of Bagong Tubig are getting in full measure, which make it positive that this small school will once again find itself among the constellation of achievers.