Young Voice
Schoolbag with rollers
It was the first day of school and a fifth grade boy was happily dragging his brand new schoolbag with rollers. It was his first time to have a schoolbag with rollers. His parents gifted it to him for topping his class during grade four. His father had to spend extra hours in the factory to earn additional income to buy that school bag with rollers. The smile on his face was certainly a gem of warmth. When he arrived at their local elementary school, he parked his handsome bag-on-wheels, greeted classmates and sat on the ground under the shady tree waiting for their first subject teacher. Yes, the boy who had that new schoolbag with rollers is one of the many unfortunate students who didn't have the chance to sit on a desk inside a furnished classroom. But still the smile on his face didn't vanish; it remained intact, what was the reason? Was it the thought of having a new bag for school?
That fifth grader is only one among the many other school children in the country who are not able to avail of the comfort of a classroom. The Department of Education Fact Sheet of February 2007 show that at present there is a teacher-pupil ratio of 1:35 for elementary schools, and 1:39 for secondary schools. That, perhaps, could be tolerable but the problem is there is lack of classrooms where the teachers could conduct their classes. Documentaries and news reports reveal the pitiful reality of some students having to sit inside their classrooms like sardines forced in a tin can, of some students having to use the school's basketball court for classrooms, worse, of some students mixing with the evacuees from a certain locality.
I'm confused. Too young, I suppose. I'm too young to comprehend all of this and weigh the status of my country's educational performance. Stating out the plus and minus, made me not decide on what conviction I would give. I would either clamor from the government's lack of preparation or salute them for their innovativeness. How hard I try to understand, I really can't. All I can picture out in my mind is the lingering sweet smile of the fifth grader, who despite the situation still pursued to wake up early, kiss his parents thank you, and bearing in his heart the flaming determination to finish school. Right now I take this right to be one-sided. If one is really agitated to receive formal education, he'll not let this inconveniences hinder his path to success. So what if you can't sit on a desk and have the basketball court as your classroom? We have no choice, that's the reality; we have to live with it though how cruel or vain it may be. Just see the at-leasts of things. At least, I got to sit and listen to my teacher. At least, I got to have a place to shelter me as I study. At least I'm at school. No matter how we try to clamor and persecute others on these hassles, we'll just waste our saliva from wailing on the streets, we'll just waste our time from popping our brains out to think of the solution. I know, we must think and do of a way out of this problematic maze. But, if this thinking and doing would prevent us from receiving the education we yearn in the first place, would you take that risk?
Don't get me wrong. I am not saying I'm contented with the present educational situation our country has. Only that we can't change the present scenario overnight. If those ahead of us completed their degrees despite the infirmities of our educational system why can't the children of today make the same? Maybe during our time when we are already the ones leading this country can we push for changes.
Soon, I'll be able to talk to that fifth grader. I'll ask him his memories of the very first schoolbag with rollers he had. I'll ask him how he managed to smile despite being deprived of a classroom. Soon will be the time when both of us shall have the country's state in our hands. Soon will be the time after we have studied to the fullest and did our part during our youth. Soon will be the time when we'll set wrong things right and right things remain right.
It was time for the fifth grader's first subject; he stared at his new schoolbag with rollers. He hushed to himself some thoughts. He wasn't smiling because he had a new schoolbag with rollers, he was smiling because he was there, listening to his teacher.
(For comments and reactions please send an email to reylangarcia@yahoo.com or an SMS to 09186363090)