A STORY YOU SHOULD TELL YOUR CHILDREN:

Leveling the field for the “educationally” disadvantaged

Learning is fun if you’re that creative, whether you’re in a real classroom or in your room. That’s definitely an old and unpleasant narrative to tell your children. For a fact, there is nothing creative in poverty. Stories of survival shouldn’t be applauded, especially if you never were poor or never have struggled to obtain food to feed your family.

Once upon a time, the new modes of learning have barged in. Everything then is expected to go downhill as it only pushes the poor on the brink of misery. It’s no surprise that the shift revealed the deep-rooted divide between the rich and the poor, specifically in terms of their access to internet infrastructures and other learning materials.

However, that one isn’t a fun story to tell your children because there is nothing to romanticize about how thousands of impoverished children are left behind in this new “education race.”

While the national government has fallen short in bridging this gap, the civil society has made its stand so as to extend assistance to the disadvantaged. So to speak, weathering this pandemic requires an intersectoral approach. That significantly involves reengineering the education system into one that is more accessible and comprehensive without sacrificing the quality of education. As the goal hasn’t yet transpired, NGOs, People’s organizations, and volunteer groups leap forward in addressing the needs of those deprived of proper education.

Again and again, no one should be left behind.

But enough from those dismal narratives of neglect and shortcoming. Behind those negativities, there is actually an amazing story the Rotaract Club of Caloocan has wanted to tell you. And this is just one of the many. Nor is it completed.

Juan’s Upon a Time: The Adventure of a Learning Module

Repeat. Once upon a time, there have been children seeking help to redress their struggles. Since RAC Caloocan is among those organizations that pledged to serve the disadvantaged, they made an initiative. They planned an adventure. They made it happen—bit-by-bit.

Juan’s Upon a Time is among the community services spearheaded by RAC Caloocan, which is aligned with their cause of “supporting education” for the least well-off. That education-based initiative is known to be a part of the Rotary’s Seven Causes. Now that the paradigm-shift in education has been drastic, RAC has to quickly adapt and respond to the changing environment by recognizing the immediate needs of the less fortunate in coping with the new modes of learning.

Among the project beneficiaries are the kindergarten pupils of Rosauro Almario Elementary School in Tondo, Manila. They have assisted 800 students in distributing module carriers or bags for the learning materials from August 29 to September 9, 2020. Part of it is ensuring the longevity and safety of the modules to ease the burden of learning.

Transform President Kim Gochuico led the distribution of module carriers. She was accompanied by the Rotary Club of Caloocan headed by Transforming President Jimmy Que. Community Service Director Leah Joyce Fuertez, Finance Committee Member Sheena Dela Cruz, and CP Toni Jean Roque also volunteered for the stimulation activity in the elementary school.

To immerse with the children and know their first-hand struggles are indeed promising experience that should be recorded. More than its face-value, Juan’s Upon a Time tells a story on how leaders, advocates, and volunteers can at least level the field for the people at the margin. Nonetheless, it is also important to take note that education isn’t supposed to be a race. This is absolute: Education is and will always be a right. The demarcation created between the privileged and those that aren’t should be strictly removed. And that is the long-term goal to anticipate.

Juan’s Upon a Time is an inspiring initiative, but it doesn’t end there. As long as children are groveling in poverty, an array of actions and solutions must still be planned and pursued. In this story, then, the only thing that should be left behind is enforced poverty and marginalization.

Thus, that is not the end of the story. And you can still be part of it.