A STUDENT who has had a subject or two taught under the shade of a tree would not have any second thoughts wanting to get out of poverty, even if it meant leaving home.
While others sought jobs in the city, Ryan Homan promised to return to Donsol, Sorsogon as soon as he earned his education degree.
The unconventional classroom setting, however, has not changed, making the challenge of becoming a teacher more difficult, especially in an area were the school is far, the weather is unpredictable and the parents are in dire need of their children’s help during harvest.
These resulted to poor attendance and teachers reporting three to four times a week only.
Love of reading
These factors prompted Homan to assemble a wooden pushcart library out his own meager pocket, which he pushes around the community after classes to bring reading materials to kids who are not able to attend classes.
His project and passion for teaching earned him a recognition from a publishing house and nonprofit organization as the country celebrates Teachers’ Month.
He and three other teachers were honored yesterday by Diwa Learning System Inc. and the Bato Balani Foundation Inc. in “The Many Faces of Teacher.” The event was held at the Waterfront Hotel Cebu.
Similar to maneuvering his pushcart, Homan had to overcome obstacles, particularly taking his advocacy to the parents.
“They were hesitant and not supportive at first because they themselves were either poor or non-readers at all. Also, it’s become a mentality for our folks that to earn better, you’d have to go to the city to work as househelp. I wanted to break that cycle for the children,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
Soon, he was able to convince the parents to join the program.
The housewives he taught how to read had become his students’ reading partners, and eventually, volunteer teacher-mothers.
From the pushcart, he has extended to creating “balsa-basa” (raft library) and “walk for knowledge” where he and his volunteers bring books to children living in far-flung areas.
When students run out of books to read, Homan writes his own stories based on their folklore using their mother tongue.
“Although we’re still facing challenges, there are only four of us doing multilevel teaching, but we remain positive. I’m also happy that the construction of our five-classroom building will soon be finished,” he said.
Inspiration
Being a hometown product, who also happens to be the first to earn a degree in their community, Hamon has inspired students to become teachers.
For Suzanne Rivera, her elementary school adviser inspired her to become a teacher.
While her mother begged her to take up anything but teaching, Rivera wouldn’t let go of her passion.
“She told me teaching doesn’t pay well and that I’ll become a spinster, an extremely exhausted one for that matter. I never yielded because those don’t matter. This is my calling and although this has not earned me a lot of materials, but the experiences, lessons and smiles have filled my heart, which to me is what wealth means,” she said.
Rivera came up with the “honesty store,” a program that aims to help students understand and apply honesty and integrity in their everyday lives.
The success of the program led to the granting of scholarships to less-privileged students who received a weekly allowance from the store’s earnings.
Aside from this, she has also organized volunteer-based clean drives and street children teaching programs together with her grade 7 students in Malabon.
“Values is the most important lesson we can teach our students. It’s sometimes overlooked, but it matters a lot,” Rivera said.
The other two honorees are renowned music professor Jose Valdez and Cassava Cyanide color Wheel Kit developer Dr. Vivian Topor.