Gary Pekas
by Estanislao Albano, Jr.
These days, all roads in the public elementary school network in the Kalinga Schools Division lead to the Bulo East Elementary School (BEES), one of the two elementary schools in the progressive barangay of Bulo, Tabuk City. Since August, groups composed of teachers, barangay officials and Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) officers and members have been trooping to Bulo to satisfy their curiosity about the school that has since emerged as the model school in the division.
According to Schools Division Superintendent Norma Brillantes, the teachers, PTA and barangay officials want to know why BEES is always topping the National Achievement Test (NAT) and is doing well in the Metrobank Teachers Association of the Philippines Math Challenge (MTAP), press conferences and science fairs. The school is also one of only three schools in the province proposed for accreditation. She added that teachers from other schools also want know how the school was able to make use practically of every inch of the campus for instructional purposes with the completion of the parks for the five major subjects namely English, Science, Math, Pilipino and Makabayan.
If I were these visitors to the BEES, I would also be curious about and would ask questions how come there is no litter on campus, no unwanted graffiti on the murals on the fence and the painted visual aids in the parks, and how come the trunks of the trees in the school of which there are a lot do not have hack wounds and scars like trees in other schools do.
I have been to the school twice myself and I have come up with the conclusion that indeed, the BEES experience could provide all the lessons other schools in the province need to learn to make themselves the learning institutions they ought to be. These of course starts from what the BEES teachers are doing to produce pupils who shine in the division to the obvious good relations among all the sectors involved in making the school what it is today namely the faculty, the PTA, the barangay officials and the community in general and many things in between. To me, there is no need for elementary school delegations from Kalinga to leave the province spending a lot of money in the process to learn lessons on how to improve their respective schools. If they are really serious, all they need to do is go to school in the BEES which by the way is sort of a Johnny-come-lately when it comes to schools in the city.
Take the case of their domination of the NAT in the division – in the last five years, BEES topped the examinations thrice and placed third and sixth in the two other years –, the secrets are really simple: their Grade VI teachers Maribel Ticnang and Gemma Andres are willing to spend weekends starting in the second semester reviewing their pupils and to spend some money of their own to reproduce copies of questionnaires to be distributed to the pupils. Ticnang and Andres say that this is the same formula used in other competed activities. If the visiting teachers are unwilling to take such extra mile, then they better forget about competing with BEES.
Talking about the willingness of BEES teachers to part with their personal money for the good of the school, that’s where it all begun for BEES. Bulo Barangay Captain Camilo Maling does not tire telling visitors that seeing the teachers sacrifice their own money to have the walls of their classrooms painted with visual aids and also to procure other things to enhance the looks and utility of their classrooms left the barangay council and the PTA with no choice but to give their full support to the faculty in their endeavor to improve things in the school.
Regarding the leadership of the school, Head Teacher Napoleon Mukay could give a clinic to elementary school principals in the province in the art and mission of leading schools. To begin with, he is well loved and respected by the BEES teachers, the barangay officials and the community. Brillantes relates that one time, she incurred the displeasure of the whole BEES community. That was when she wanted to transfer Mukay to another assignment. She recalls that Maling expressed his vehement objection to the plan and there was even this threat from parents that they will barricade the school just in case another administrator will be brought in. Mukay is such a stark contrast to many principals in the province who are being spewed out by their schools. BEES PTA President Manuel Sano sums it all up thus: “No matter what we do if the school head does not know how to go about it, then nothing happens.”
When asked about how he gained the respect and support of the teachers and the community, Mukay talked about leading by example. Just like the other teachers, he is also willing to spend not only personal money but extra time for the school. And he is transparent in financial matters, something that is hard to say about a lot of principals who do not even report about how the MOOE has been spent.
The visitors could also learn a lot from the BEES community. To begin with, they give their all out support to the school. Maling informed that in the construction of the five area parks in 2009 all of which I noticed are not of the for compliance kind, all the school spent for was the painting work because nobody among the faculty members and in the PTA knows how to paint. The materials and the labor were all gratis courtesy of the faculty, the barangay council, the PTA and alumni. In the case of the community, it cannot be denied that BEES has a distinct advantage: 80 percent of its constituents belong to the Sumadel tribe. The Sumadel people are known for their cooperative attitude. When there is work to be done, you don’t need to ask them twice. Also, as a rule, no Sumadel in Bulo steals that’s why the property of the school are safe even if the school does not employ a guard. There is one more significant thing about Sumadel people everywhere: generally speaking, Sumadels value the education of their children because with most of them not graduating from high school and even elementary, they do not want their children to go through the same difficulties they have gone through due to their lack of education.
Now about the cleanliness of the campus. Unlike in other schools and most other public places in this country, at the BEES the garbage bins perform their intended functions. There is no clutter in the school. The whole ground is clean. When I asked Mukay how they were able to inculcate cleanliness in the pupils, he said that teachers, barangay officials and members of the PTA used to remind them about it regularly during flag ceremony but of late, the frequency has been reduced as most of the pupils have internalized the lesson. Regarding the few remaining litterbugs, Mukay handles them as follows: their litter will be picked by other pupils but they will be reported to their teachers who would then sternly warn them.
A probing visitor would also learn that one extra motivation of the BEES is its intent to become the first accredited elementary school in the province, if not the region. According to Mukay, the La Trinidad Central School became the first accredited school but because it failed to move on to the next level in two years, it lost its status. With all the sectors in the school exerting their best, there is no reason BEES could not attain the coveted status. Suffice it to say that so far, the efforts of the administration and faculty, the PTA and the barangay council to improve the school have already borne fruit with the school being now the acknowledged model school in the division.
My conclusion is that all the positive factors for a school to succeed are present in the BEES. Most other schools could only dream of the emergence of most of these factors in their cases. That makes the BEES a very tough act to follow in Kalinga.
