Grandma a proud college freshman

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – For 75-year-old Felicidad Hilado-Casingal, age is not a hindrance to earning a degree.

“We are all equal when it comes to education,” the 75-year-old grandmother  said.

Casingal is among the freshman enrollees at the Bacolod City College (BCC) Taculing campus. A city scholar, she will take up Office Administration.

She completed her primary education at Sum-ag Elementary School in the 1950s. She finished high school through the Department of Education’s Alternative Learning System, and passed the Alternative Learning System Accreditation and Equivalency Test in October 2013.

Though her parents could afford to send her to school, Casingal said the distance of the school kept her from finishing. “I had to walk around two kilometers every day. At lunch, I would go back to our house and walk again back to school,” she said.

She said enrolling at BCC is an opportunity to fulfill her dream to earn a degree.

“I want to prove to my family that I am still capable, that I am still strong despite my age. I am still alive, so why stop now?” she said.

She admitted that her daughter Junea had qualms about her decision to go back to school.

She said she is not going back to school to land a job, but to gain more knowledge and be a good example to her grandchildren.