Where I learned ABC

By Raqueza Lalangan

EVERYONE becomes excited for the togas, the medals, the ribbons, the diplomas and certificates, the gifts, and the celebrations. It’s March and graduation is really in the air. Well, I’ve been thinking, dreaming, anticipating, and working hard just to march this April so graduation is really a grand event to be excited about.

But a recent trip to back to my alma mater, Talibaew Elementary School, to cover a news story, has sort of toned down my excitement.

We were strangers again. I never really visited the school after that day I delivered my valedictory address. On my return, what instantly caught my eyes was the destruction left by the recurring flood in the barangay. It made me sad to see the “remains” of the first classroom where I learned the ABC and 123. The classroom was ruined by the strong typhoon that hit the country.

Most of the classrooms have become old and dilapidated because recurring floods sometimes reach all the way to the roof. The school population has also grown since I left and there is obviously a lack of decent classrooms. Even during my time there, I experienced attending a class under a tree when I was in my fourth grade.

I felt grief instead of the happiness I used to feel way back in elementary as I looked at the decrepit stage where graduation rites are always held. The seesaw and slide have been removed. Only the monkey bar has survived the tests of time and flood. The grounds also turn muddy when it rains, making me wonder how pupils enjoy playing during recess time, which was my favorite part of the school day.

As I stood and looked around my old school, I felt the urge to play again in the slide and play 10-20, luksong baka, tupak grass, sipak ball, and erel-erelan. I really miss those days of innocence – innocence in the sense of being contented with a one peso-ice candy and a ribbon for graduation.

I feel so different now viewing life as a race and the pressure of keeping honor-excellence whenever, wherever.

When it floods, the school is sometimes forced to close for a month. I know the students must love a month’s vacation. I used to love it too! But now I do realize that this impacts on our education with the lost days for learning. Back then, the books would also have many missing pages and an unpleasant odor after these have been soaked in the flood, but I would still read them because of my thirst for knowledge.

The situation of my elementary school is just one case of the overall problematic education sector in the country. The shortage or little budget given to the sector has long been a matter of debate and remains unsettled. Then there’s corruption. And so we have problems like erroneous books, substandard classrooms and facilities, and incompetent teachers.

So what do all these things mean in relation to graduation, then? I realized as I reminisced my elementary days that graduation is not about the togas, the medals, the ribbons, the diplomas and certificates, the gifts, and the celebrations.

I cannot go back to being an elementary pupil playing 10-20 but I can do something to improve the quality of education for the sake of the next generation, especially in my Alma Matter.

Graduation is also about paying something back to the place where we had our first formal education.

I dream and aim to become an excellent educator, enlightening students with wisdom and also caring for them, by becoming either a lawyer and pursuing the rightful welfare of the education sector, or by becoming a journalist and writing to ensure the accountability of leaders to the education sector. Yes, I am doing and I will do something good for my alma mater. That is my graduation promise.

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