Learning is fun in family farm schools

Once a year, Harry Potter eagerly leaves his cramped, four-walled room to go to King’s Cross Railway Station and look for Platform 9 and 3/4 to take a ride on the Hogwarts Express. From there on, Harry would spend weeks of adventure and magic while learning a thing or two about life.

A magical school such as Hogwarts is enough to make a kid fantasize leaving home and spending weeks in a magical place. Like the famous fictitious school, it is hard to believe that somewhere in the middle of the Philippines’ vast farmlands stand many schools that boast quality education and in-depth values formation.

Not many have heard of the Talon Family Farm School, located in Tuy, Batangas or the Jala-Jala Family Farm School, situated beside Laguna de Bay in the province of Rizal. And yet, when I volunteered to share my knowledge in these schools, I thought to myself that somehow, these students were luckier than I was for having studied in a school that takes very good care of each student amid the backdrop not of a polluted and congested city but of a peaceful farmland or a dreamy rural fishing village.

Talon Family Farm School is literally built in the middle of rice fields and sugarcane plantations. There are no paved roads leading to the school, and the supposedly short distance from the highway to the location would take 20 uncomfortable, rough-and-tumble minutes through mud and rocks. But once inside the school, visitors would see a simple but decent school building. The most beautiful room though is the chapel, adorned with gold decorations and beautiful portraits of the Virgin Mary. Not surprising when one considers that the school is run by a foundation composed mostly of Opus Dei members.

The school in Rizal, on the other hand, is located in the middle of the towns of Pakil and Panguil. There are many old stone churches around the area and the community is very much like the barrios one reads about in Philippine short stories. Every night, a makeshift chapel is filled with townspeople who hear Mass celebrated by a deacon. Despite the bareness of the chapel and the simplicity of the ceremony, one could feel the genuine faith of the fisherfolk.

It is not the provincial landscape that sets the schools apart though, but the innovative and creative educational system. A farm school has a unique setup of alternating school weeks. That is, when class is in session, the students will have to live in the school for a certain period of time. Here, the students are not distracted by the family’s needs. A child doesn’t have to skip school because he is needed by his father in the fields. His full focus is on his studies, as well as developing his character and spirituality as he undergoes counseling and talks about the Opus Dei spirituality. There is ample time for play and recreation, too.  A batch is usually composed of just about 20-30 students, making the class size very ideal for student mentoring. The school, naturally, has added subjects about farming and/or fishing, as well as entrepreneurship. All their subjects are contextualized to make the students see how they could apply what they’ve learned to their family’s livelihood. Finally, if I remember right, students are also given free textbooks and their meals are paid for by the school during their live-in cycles.

After the school week, the students return to their families for two weeks so that they could fulfill their family responsibilities. The focus they get from the setup gives them the motivation to study and do well. Furthermore, whatever they study they get to apply at home as they help their parents in their jobs either as farmers or fisherfolk.

At the end of our stay as volunteers, the school invited the parents for a potluck celebration. Characteristic of the fiestas in the province, a bounty of dishes is prepared by the parents in gratitude for having access to a privileged school such as the Family Farm School. But more noteworthy than the food is the closeness of the community. I know everyone felt they were empowered stakeholders of an excellent school.

I’m sure there are many successful Family Farm Schools in other parts of our country, or perhaps other educational systems that have been innovatively designed to address the needs of the local population. These successful projects are concrete proof of the Filipinos’ resilience and creativity in addressing poverty and financial limitations. Hopefully, like my experience, it is enough to inspire and convince people that serving one’s country is a worthy cause, and contrary to what it seems, poverty in the Philippines could be solved through ingenuity and the power of a united community.