PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte approved the postponement of the August 24 school opening. That could have been based on the report of DepEd that few school divisions are not ready yet because of the lockdown in some areas. The reason was made to sound convincing to whit the appetite of the teachers, parents and children.
The varied inter-agency task forces and the whisperers could have hinted the president of the brisk transmission of the virus in the community and there are teachers who have been infected. Opening the classes would mean the frequent meeting of the parents with the teachers to get the modules for the children to be answered and to return them a week after to be checked by the teachers.
This activity with good intention would trigger the circulation of people who may be positive or asymptomatic. The postponement is good and we look forward for the October 5 opening for school year 2020-2021. Before October 5, many are expecting for another new announcement. We do not know yet because life is about not knowing what is coming.
A more than a month extension may give the teachers ample time to review their modules to come out with quality outputs or do some changes because some department heads and supervisors are fond of revising the work to be done by teachers, and that is not funny. Classroom teachers are also human beings and can possibly bite if pushed to the edge.
In the past, Spanish Era to be specific, education was a rare opportunity. There was no formal system of elementary education in the Philippines. Only Sunday catechism classes were held in the “poblacion” (town center), “cabecera” (provincial capital) or the “visita” (village chapel) where a priest might happen to be.
The first book of learning was the “katon” (from the Spanish “caton”), a primer on the Roman alphabet, including some prayers and basic Christian teachings. It was also called the “abecedario” or alphabet book. The first book “Doctrina Christiana” (1593) may have been the model of the earliest “katon”.
The first teachers were the Spanish priests. “Katon” classes were teaching the four Rs... reading, ‘riting’, ‘rithmetic’, and religion with emphasis on the last. The Spaniards did not really intend to educate the Filipino children to the fullest. Religious teachings were consisted of reciting by rote without any real understanding of what was being memorized.
Here in Silay, I was told that the sons of the ‘principalia” or the “buena familias” (the town’s upper class), were more fortunate because they were sometimes permitted to board a few years at the “convento”, the residence of the priest. In exchange for services, the boarders served as “sacristan” and cleaned the church.
My source said that they were given additional training on Christian doctrine, reading, writing, and even music in Spanish. This privilege was clearly intended to train and control an upper class that would act as loyal intermediary between the Spaniards and the Filipino people.
Later on, some “katon” classes were offered by private tutors called “maestros” in their own houses. The early “maestros” were either exemplary students of convent classes or prominent citizens who were able to attend secondary school. These private tutors taught only the children of the rich.
(To be continued)