Mayor ‘Ate Vi’ converts Lipa day care centers to Pagsasarili Preschools

On her 52nd birthday last November, Mayor Vilma Santos-Recto chose to give prominence to the inauguration of the model school of the OB Montessori Pagsasarili Preschool in Lipa, Batangas. She has converted 15 day care centers to Pagsasarili Preschools following the decision of her husband, Senator Ralph Recto, who used to be in the first Operation Brotherhood Montessori school at Escoda, Paco, Manila, way back in 1968 with his brother Vincent.

This is the third province to use the Pagsasarili preschool system. The first one was Marikina, when Mayor Marides C. Fernando had her livelihood trainors take the OB Montessori Pagsasarili Literacy Course. The second was when seven mayors of the Ifugao Rice Terraces, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, had their DSWD day care centers converted to Pagsasarili Preschools.

The inauguration was attended by the author, as the OB Montessori Child and Community Foundation president, with her line managers, and Lipa Mayor Vilma Santos-Recto with her city officials. The city has converted 15 centers to OB Montessori Pagsasarili Preschools and eventually would upgrade the remaining 92 centers on or before Mayor Vi finishes her term as City Mayor of Lipa in May 2007.

How It All Began

Right after the Easter holidays, Mayor Vilma sent 15 DSWD day care workers to train as Pagsasarili Preschool teachers at the OB Montessori Center in Greenhills for six weeks. She and her husband, Senator Ralph Recto had made up their minds half a year earlier to provide the best preschool program for the city.

The theoretical and practical training required an intense early morning up to evening in-house training at the OB Montessori Greenhills headquarters. With them were 11 Ifugao Rice Terraces day care teachers, half of whom were doing the third advanced training refresher course annually, while the rest were novice Ifugao teachers. Even our five senior head teachers and their 15 Pagsasarili teachers of Metro Manila under the supervision of our OB Montessori Child and Community Foundation had to take refresher courses although, they have been teaching for six to 18 years.

The ‘New Teachers’ On Overcoming Pride And Prejudice

Vilma, a novice preschool teacher from Lipa, says: "As early as March 26, Tess Pesa, Social Welfare city officer, brought us to Manila to meet Ambassador Soliven and the Pagsasarili teacher-trainors. To our surprise, we didn’t expect to be subjected to a battery of tests for IQ, teaching aptitude and maturity. On April 18, we started training. We felt lonely because it was the first time we were apart from our families. Since the training was conducted in English, we struggled reading the Montessori books and writing essays up to 2 a.m. By 6 a.m., we had to start preparing for the Monday to Friday 8 a.m. sessions. The Pagsasarili materials (practical laundry, sweeping, dressing frames, puzzle geography maps, botany and zoology classified picture cards) were like toys, but they were difficult to use. Apparatus books had to be compiled with written ‘recipes’ for each material. Practical exams required oral presentation. Theoretical exams on the Montessori principles of psychology and practice applied to the four sets of practical life, sensorial, language, math and science materials. Hindi pala basta-basta ang maging Pagsasarili Montessori teacher."

Maryanne, a Lipa Pagsasarili Preschool teacher-trainee, says: "Noong unang araw ay napaka-daming tanong ang nabuo sa isip ko — mahirap ba o madali? Kinabukasan nasagot kaagad ito. Sumabak kami sa ‘essay writing’ on the life and works of Maria Montessori and impromptu public speaking with the Dale Carnegie course. Sa aming pag-uwi ng weekend sa Lipa ay may sumalubong na problema — maysakit na anak, naaksidentent anak, mabilis naubos ang allowance na bigay ni Mayor. Tila ba nagkaroon kami ng dahilan upang huwag bumalik sa OB Montessori pagsapit ng Lunes. Pero, dahil ito ang aming tungkulin, at sa pagtitiwala ng aming mahal na Mayor Vilma, walang anuman ang maaring humadlang sa amin at ngpatuloy kami sa training."

Mayor Vi Gives Best Education To Children

When Mayor Vi was elected mayor of Lipa City in 1998, first on her agenda was health and education. At that time, the City Social Welfare and Development Office had in place 103 day care services in 64 out of 72 barangays. Four new centers were added during her term. To date, her administration has spent nearly P62 million for day care service alone. This includes building construction, renovation, repair and maintenance, program materials, day care workers’ honorarium and training. In her eight years of service, an average of P7.6 million per year were allotted for preschool children.

The Song Of Pagsasarili Teachers

When the summer training of teachers concluded, the awarding of certificate was complemented by their leaders’ speech of appreciation. They choreographed their dance and composed songs. That night, as I reviewed their anecdotes, I was so touched that I composed The Song of Pagsasarili Teacher.

I

"…Not long ago, we were full of pride

while our tiny pupils were full of fright

MALI IYAN, ANG KULIT NAMAN DALI , DALI ANG BAGAL MO INIP NA INIP NA AKO!

Six weeks ago, English we could not speak

Salitang Batangas (Ifugao) made us meek

More so because we were forced to read

Eight chapters of Montessori’s life and works.

II

Anim na linggo nagbago ang mundo

Bilang ang kilos ng walis tambo (Practical Life)

13 naman ang pagkuskos, pagsabon, pagbanlaw, etc. sa paglalaba

May placemat, breakable glass at

plate sa table setting pa.

III

Pitong pirasong kahoy ang mundo

Kabilang ang dalawang America, (Geography)

Rosas na Europa, itim na Africa,

putting Antarctica,

Berdeng Australia at dilaw ang aking Asia.

Imbis na ABC ay letrang maliit,

(Language / Math)

Letrang mataas at letrang maybuntot,

PAPEL DELIHANG hinihimas

ng aking hintuturo.

Imbis na 1, 2, 3 — gintong

perlas ang binibilang

mula sa units, tens, hundreds

and thousands.

Ito daw ay bilang decimal.

IV

Pagbalik ko noong unang linggo

Nagulat ang asawa ko.

"Sinong dalaga ang nandidito"

Buong ngiti at yayakapin pa ako!

"Si Neneng pala anong pagbabago."

Sabi niya, "Ako’y nalilito

Akala ko’y kaibang pagtuturo

Pinasukan mo ba ay preschool training?

O kaya kay Ricky’s Beauty training?

"Mahal ko," ang sagot ko

umupo ka at mahaba ang kuwento

linggo linggo ako’y magbabago

pati ikaw, si Jane, Dan at Jojo.